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What are Walmart’s ‘dark stores’ and why can’t customers go inside?

Lots of people are used to dashing into Walmart to save money, but now the retail giant is rolling out a store concept that you can’t dash in, but which is designed to save time.

Walmart is testing a kind of store aimed at making its online delivery services more efficient and improving the quality of that service.

They’re calling them “dark stores” because these locations will not be open to the public, but only used to fulfill customers’ online orders.

These stores will add to the 4800 brick-and-mortar stores Walmart already has. The first dark store is already up and running in Dallas, Texas, with another planned for Walmart’s hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas.

The stores are dark for another reason, according to USA Today. They include none of the familiar signage designed to attract shoppers – because they don’t want shoppers going in. Even so, the inside of the dark stores will resemble the stores millions regularly patronize, and will carry some of the retailer’s most popular products, but just for online order fulfillment.

Walmart’s chief executive officer Douglas McMillon said on an earnings call in May that, “Delivery speed continues to help drive our business. We’ll soon reach 95% of the population in the U.S. with delivery options of three hours or less.”

He said that for US Walmart, “the number of deliveries in less than three hours grew by 91% for Q1 versus a year ago.”

Dark stores aren’t Walmart’s only effort to shorten delivery times. The Walmart supermarkets recently expanded drone delivery by 100 additional locations, making the company the first retailer to offer that service in five states.

“We regularly test new tools, features, and capabilities to better connect with and serve our customers — wherever and however they choose to shop,” Walmart told Food & Wine in a statement. “Regardless of the channel, our goal remains the same: to deliver a fast, seamless, and engaging customer experience.”

Greg Cathey, the senior vice president of Walmart U.S. transformation and innovation, said in a release that the company is committed to “pushing the boundaries of convenience to better serve our customers, making shopping faster and easier than ever before.”

Walmart’s dark stores are an obvious effort to compete with retail titans like Amazon, known for delivering orders with impressive speed.

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Meet AL.com’s Alabama Crimson Tide 2000-2025 quarter-century team

For the Alabama Crimson Tide football program, the last 25 years has seen depressing lows, but also amazing highs. Most of those years under the leadership of Nick Saban, perhaps the greatest coach of the last quarter-century.

If you’re an Alabama fan, you’ll probably call him the greatest coach of the last century.

While Saban may have the title of “The GOAT”, who exactly would be on the team of the greatest Alabama players over the last 25 years?

The staff from AL.com put their heads together and made their picks for the AL.com Alabama Crimson Tide quarter-century team.

Offense

Quarterback

  • Tua Tagovailoa

Also receiving votes: Jalen Hurts, Bryce Young

This is a case where you could literally roll the ball out with any of the selected signal callers. However, by the slimmest of margins (1 vote), Tua gets nod.

Tua first came onto the scene during the 2018 College Football Playoff national title game as he entered the game, and in overtime connected with DeVonta Smith for a game-winning touchdown to give Alabama a 26-23 victory over Georgia.

Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (with former offensive coordinator Brian Daboll) helped author one of the greatest finishes in college football history by beating Georgia in overtime of the 2018 College Football Playoff national title game. Vasha Hunt/[email protected]

Running Backs

  • Derrick Henry
  • Mark Ingram

Also receiving votes: Eddie Lacy

Wide Receivers

  • DeVonta Smith
  • Julio Jones

Also receiving votes: Amari Cooper

Tight End

As one of the few players to have a uniramous vote across the board, OJ Howard is not only one of the greatest players in Alabama history, but also most reliable. Howard’s consistency led to over 1,700 yards and seven career touchdowns as a key piece of national title-winnings teams in Tuscaloosa.

O.J. Howard
Alabama tight end O.J. Howard (88) was named Offensive Most Valuable Player of the 2016 national championship game vs. Clemson. (Vasha Hunt/AL.com)Alabama Media Group

Tackles

  • Andre Smith
  • Cam Robinson

Also receiving votes: Chris Samuels, Jonah Williams

Guards

  • Barrett Jones
  • Chance Warmack

Also receiving votes: Mike Johnson

Center

  • Landon Dickerson

Also receiving votes: Barrett Jones, Ryan Kelly

Defense

Defensive Ends/Edge

  • Will Anderson Jr.
  • Marcel Dareus

Also receiving votes: Dallas Turner, Quinnen Williams, Jonathan Allen

Defensive Tackles

  • Quinnen Williams
  • Jonathan Allen

Also receiving votes: Terrance Cody, Daron Payne

Linebackers

  • Rolando McClain
  • Reuben Foster
  • CJ Mosley

Also receiving votes: DeMeco Ryans, Dont’a Hightower, Will Anderson.

CJ Mosley
Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley (32) pushes off Georgia State wide receiver Albert Wilson (15) as he runs 41 yards to score after intercepting a pass in the second quarter at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010. (The Birmingham News/ Mark Almond)BN

While Ryans, Hightower, and Anderson can certainly make a case for anybody’s quarter-century team, the three selected by the AL.com staff are pretty good themselves.

McClain, Foster, and Mosley have a combined five first-team All-SEC honors, three unanimous All-American selections, and each of them have been named SEC Defensive Player of the Year while at Alabama.

Cornerbacks

  • Patrick Surtain II
  • Javier Arenas

Also receiving votes: Dee Milliner, Marlon Humphrey,

Safeties

  • Mark Barron
  • Minkah Fitzpatrick

Also receiving votes: Eddie Jackson, Roman Harper

Special Teams

Kicker

  • Will Reichard

Punter

What are your thoughts on the AL.com Alabama quarter-century team? Reach out on all AL.com and AMG social media pages to give your thoughts and comments on who you think should have made the team.

The Auburn and Iron Bowl quarter-century teams are coming as well, stay tuned to AL.com for more details as they come.

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Trump threatens to unleash the DOGE ‘monster’ on Musk as feud intensifies: ‘Might have to eat Elon’

President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested unleashing the DOGE “monster” on ally-turned-rival Elon Musk while leaving deportation on the table for the world’s richest person.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to take a look” at deportation, Trump told reporters Tuesday while touring the “Alligator Alcatraz” for detained migrants in Florida.

Musk is a native of South Africa who moved to the United States in 1992 to advance his education.

He became a U.S. citizen through the naturalization process in 2002.

In a video discussing his immigration status with his brother, Kimbal Musk, at a 2013 global conference, Elon Musk claimed “it was a gray area” after Kimbal Musk said the brothers “were illegal immigrants.”

Trump had another suggestion for dealing with Musk, who is at odds with the president over the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

“We might have to put DOGE on Elon,” Trump said, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency that Musk worked with to root out waste, fraud and abuse in government.

“You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible? He gets a lot of subsidies,” Trump said.

Musk’s companies have been awarded lucrative government contracts worth $38 billion, according to the Washington Post.

“But Elon’s very upset that the EV mandate is gonna be terminated,” Trump told reporters. “And, you know what, when you look at it … not everyone wants an electric car.

“I don’t want to have an electric car. I want to have maybe gasoline, maybe electric, maybe a hybrid, maybe someday a hydrogen … sometimes it blows up.”

Musk fired the first shots last month, calling Trump’s signature legislation a “disgusting abomination” for increasing the country’s debt.

Trump posted to his Truth Social account that Musk was “wearing thin.”

“I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump posted.

Musk denied that the subsidies angered him. On Thursday, he claimed that Trump only won the 2024 election because of the nearly $300 million he provided to the president’s campaign.

“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk responded. “Such ingratitude.”

Trump fired back, suggesting cutting the billions Musk’s companies receive from the government would be “the easiest way to save money in our budget.”

“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” the president posted.

On Monday, Musk threatened to form a new political party after Freedom Caucus Republicans, who campaigned on reining in spending, voted in favor of the bill.

“It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!“ Musk tweeted.

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Country music star trashes Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’: ‘That s— ain’t country music.’

Country music singer Gavin Adcock, known for songs like “Deep End” and “Ain’t No Cure,” recently shared his thoughts with concertgoers on Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter.”

“That s–t ain’t country music and it ain’t ever been country music and it ain’t gonna be country music,” Adcock told the crowd at his concert this weekend.

He said this in response to his album “My Own Worst Enemy,” (No.5) coming behind Beyonce’s (No.4) on the Apple Music country music charts.

“Cowboy Carter” also took home album of the year at the Grammys in February.

Adcock, who was nominated for new male artist of the year at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards, later posted a video on X explaining his stance.

“I’ma go ahead and clear this up,” he said.

“When I was a little kid, my mama was blasting some Beyoncé in the car. I’ve heard a ton of Beyoncé songs and I actually remember her Super Bowl Halftime Show being pretty kick-ass back in the day. But I really don’t believe her album should be labeled as country music.”

Adcock said, “It doesn’t sound country, it doesn’t feel country, and I just don’t think that people that have dedicated their whole lives to this genre and this lifestyle should have to compete or watch that album just stay at the top just because she’s Beyoncé.”

Ten days before the album released, Beyoncé made a post to Instagram explaining that it has been five years in the making, and was birthed from an experience that she had years ago where she didn’t feel welcomed and “it was clear that she wasn’t.”

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Check out new UAH athletics logos as part of identity rebrand

The University of Alabama in Huntsville has refreshed its athletics logos as part of a new identity rebrand, it was announced on Tuesday.

The previous white side-facing horse with a blue outline has been replaced by a new detailed horse with a blue mane and a lightning bolt on the side of its neck.

Font of the former “UAH Chargers” inscription has also been updated, with “UAH” shifting from completely white to blue with a white outline.

UAH’s athletics website has already been updated to reflect the change in identity. New merchandise featuring the new logos can also be purchased online.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville announced new-look athletics logos ahead of the 2025-26 athletics season.Courtesy of University of Alabama in Huntsville

“We want people to be as excited about this new logo as we are,” said vice president for strategic communications Kristina Hendrix, who led the rebrand. “This project has been two years in the making, and it deserves to have a true and fun reveal.

“Our students are preparing to come back to campus, so this gives them something extra to look forward to.”

According to a release, the logos align with a University of Alabama System movement to make a “more cohesive visual identity” among UAH, the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

UAB also updated its logos for the school, hospital and athletics program, with the new look announced in July of 2024.

The UAH brand guidelines say that this new logo is strictly for the promotion of the athletics department. A release said the full implementation of the logo is expected within the next three years.

“I was very pleased when I saw this logo,” athletics director Cade Smith wrote in a release. “It’s still the Chargers, but it’s fresh. I’m excited about the different ways we might be able to use it. It’s good for brand recognition; it’s good for exposure.

“It’s going to benefit our department and, hopefully, the school.”

Last season saw plenty of success in UAH athletics, including Gulf South Conference championships for men’s basketball, men’s indoor track and field and men’s outdoor track and field.

Women’s basketball and volleyball both finished second in the Gulf South Conference tournament, with basketball earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II tournament.

“Our teams are part of a winning culture,” Hendrix said. “We’ve seen the pride that our student-athletes have when they perform in competition. During the design process, we asked ourselves: Will they be proud of this logo on their uniform when they’re hoisting the trophy in the air after they win a conference championship?”

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3 Alabama football players earn 2025 preseason All-America honors

Alabama football players were named preseason All-America by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Sophomore wide receiver Ryan Williams and junior tackle Kadyn Proctor earned first-team All-America honors for the Crimson Tide.

Williams, who played his high school football at Saraland, was a freshman star for the Tide, famously playing the 2024 season as a 17-year-old. He finished the year with 48 catches for 865 yards and eight touchdowns.

The youngster introduced himself to the rest of the college football world in an early-season game against Georgia. After the Crimson Tide squandered a lead late, Williams made a circus catch and, several ballet moves later, scored the winning touchdown.

Proctor has spent the past two years as Alabama’s left tackle. After Nick Saban retired in January of 2024, he briefly transferred to Iowa, but returned to recapture the starting job in Tuscaloosa before the beginning of his sophomore season.

The Iowa native earned second-team All-SEC honors last year. He was named to the conference’s all-freshman team in 2023.

Alabama was also represented on the second-team Walter Camp All-America squad. Tim Keenan earned the nod, entering his final season in Tuscaloosa.

The defensive lineman from Birmingham started 12 of 13 games for the Crimson Tide in 2024. He finished the year with 40 total tackles, including 7.5 for loss and 2.5 sacks.

Alabama will begin preseason camp in early August ahead of Kalen DeBoer’s second year in charge. The Crimson Tide will open the 2025 season with a trip to Tallahassee to face Florida State.

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30,000 bike helmets sold at Walmart, Amazon recalled: Do you own one?

California-based Bell Sports is recalling more than 30,000 bicycle helmets because they do not meet Consumer Product Safety Commission’s mandatory federal safety standards.

According to a statement on the Consumer Product Safety Commission website, the helmets can fail to protect the user in the event of a crash, posing a risk of head injury.

The recall, issued June 26, involves Bell Sports’ Axle, Cadence, Rev and Frenzy children’s bicycle helmets with model numbers B0605Y, B0605C or B0494Y. The recall also involves Cadence and Passage adult helmets with model number B0605Y.

The helmets were sold several different color combinations, including: blue, green, purple, red, pink, black/blue, green/black, pink/green, pink/purple, pink/white, purple/white, red/black, pink/mint or multi-color; and have various designs, including checkers, lines, polka dots, rainbows and swirls.

A full list of the names and model numbers is also available on the CPSC website, as well as the Bell Sports website.

The helmets were sold at Walmart, Target, Academy Sports+ Outdoors and other stores nationwide and online on www.Amazon.com, FredMeyer.com, Academy.com and Target.com from September 2024 through May 2025 for about $20.

Consumers who own the recalled helmets should stop using them immediately and contact Bell Sports for a full refund. The CPSC is urging consumers to destroy the recalled helmets by cutting off the straps before they throw them away.

Consumers can upload photos of the helmet with the straps cut off to [email protected] to receive a refund. Bell Sports is contacting all known purchasers directly.

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Players Era Festival 2025 schedule: How does Auburn and Alabama’s bracket layout?

The Las Vegas-based Players Era Festival is back for a second season and will be even bigger.

The sequel to one of college basketball’s most anticipated events will be a tournament featuring 18 college basketball teams playing for a $1 million prize.

After debuting the event with eight teams (Alabama, Creighton, Houston, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State, Texas A&M) ten more programs were added to the tournament field (Auburn, Baylor, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Kansas, Michigan, St. John’s, Syracuse, Tennessee and UNLV).

Teams that go 2-0 on the first two days of the tournament will pool into the championship round. Point differential, total points scored, and points allowed will all affect the tally, serving as tiebreakers, just like in 2024 when Oregon won the inaugural event over Alabama.

Here’s a full schedule of the first two days of the tournament:

Monday, Nov. 24

No. 22 Tennessee vs. Rutgers, 1 p.m.

Baylor vs. Creighton, 2 p.m.

No. 18 Kansas vs. Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m.

No. 1 St. John’s vs. No. 13 Iowa State, 4:30 p.m.

No. 2 Houston vs. Syracuse, 6 p.m.

No. 17 Oregon vs. No. 19 Auburn, 8 p.m.

No. 14 Alabama vs. No. 21 Gonzaga, 9:30 p.m.

No. 8 Michigan vs. San Diego State, 10:30 p.m.

Maryland vs. UNLV, midnight

Tuesday, Nov. 25

Rutgers vs. Notre Dame, 1 p.m.

No. 13 Iowa State vs. Creighton, 2:30 p.m.

No. 18 Kansas vs. Syracuse, 3:30 p.m

No. 1 St. John’s vs. Baylor, 5 p.m.

No. 2 Houston vs. No. 22 Tennessee, 6 p.m.

No. 8 Michigan vs. No. 19 Auburn, 8:30 p.m.

No. 21 Gonzaga vs. Maryland, 9:30 p.m.

No. 17 Oregon vs. San Diego State, 11 p.m.

No. 14 Alabama vs. UNLV, midnight

Wednesday, Nov. 26

Consolation/third-place game: 7 p.m.

Championship game: 9:30 p.m.

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports forAL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3or email him at [email protected].

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AL.com journalists earn national awards from Society of Professional Journalists

AL.com reporters Sarah Whites-Koditschek, left, and Amy Yurkanin shared in the Society for Professional Journalists’ 2024 Sigma Delta Chi Awards for Excellence in Professional Journalism.AL.com file photos

Reporting on state regulations around hemp products and on a dubious police technique for evaluating whether drivers are stoned earned AL.com a share in national journalistic honors.

The Society of Professional Journalists has announced winners of its 2024 Sigma Delta Chi Awards for Excellence in Professional Journalism. Among the honorees were two projects from teams including AL.com reporters.

In the category of non-deadline reporting for online-only publication, the winner was a story headlined “Police say they can tell if you are too high to drive. Critics call it ‘utter nonsense.’” The entry was a collaboration between Sarah Whites-Koditschek of AL.com and Gus Burns of MLive.com.

The story addresses a national police technique using so-called Drug Recognition Experts to rule on whether drivers are high, and on what drugs, without involving a medical professional or any actual drug screening tests. The practice has been rejected by courts in many states and one expert cited in the story referred to it as “not science-based at all, but … merely a police officer’s lay opinion encrusted with some of the trappings but little or none of the substance of science.”

READ: Police say they can tell if you are too high to drive. Critics call it ‘utter nonsense’

In the category of consumer and retail reporting, the winner was “Highly Legal,” by Amy Yurkanin, formerly of AL.com, Ashley Okwuosa of The Examination, and John Diedrich and Jordyn Noennig of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The story said that in many states where recreational marijuana isn’t allowed, the demand has been filled by an experiment with hemp-derived products and “a massive market of store-bought gummies and vapes … lining gas stations and smoke shop shelves with seemingly legal highs.” But it found that customers, regulators, lawmakers and public health experts were “struggling to keep up with this new class of products.”

Highly Legal

Delta-8, delta-9 and THC-A products have flooded into U.S. states that don’t allow the legal sale of marijuana. An AL.com reporter shared in Society of Professional Journalists honors for a story on the uncertainties around such products.Tamika Moore/AL.com

The SPJ described the work as “the kind of story that gets the attention of regulators and legislators pushing for change.”

READ: It’s almost weed. And it’s taking Alabama by storm: ‘A big human guinea pig experiment.’

The full list of award winners can be found at www.spj.org.

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Y’all aboard, ‘finally’: See details on fares and date Amtrak Mardi Gras Service launches

Amtrak Mardi Gras Service will begin on Aug. 18, with fares starting at $15 for a one-way trip to New Orleans, officials closely aligned with the long-planned project announced Tuesday.

“One word we can use to describe how we feel today, and that’s ‘finally,’” said Amtrak Vice President Nicole Bucich, in Mobile for a news conference Tuesday announcing the train’s start date, schedule and fares.

The Amtrak route connecting Mobile to New Orleans with four stops in coastal Mississippi has been in various stages of planning, litigation, and negotiations for more than a decade. The final hurdle includes finishing a train stop in downtown Mobile at the foot of Government Street, which is expected to be completed soon.

“In the last 12 years, this has created more conversation and has taken the longest to get done than anything else,” said Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson. “It’s been vetted from all angles.

The train’s commencement will take place just days before the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the powerful storm that devastated the Gulf Coast and damaged the rail line. An Amtrak train has not operated routinely along the coastal area since then.

Amtrak Vice President Nicole Bucich speaks during a news conference on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, at Government Plaza in downtown Mobile, Ala.John Sharp

Bucich said the timing near the storm’s anniversary was coincidental, though the hurricane’s history will likely serve as an emotional backstory to the train’s inaugural guest-only trip scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 16.

Hurricane Katrina, which struck in late August 2005, had its most devastating impacts on both coastal Mississippi and New Orleans, leaving thousands of people homeless. In New Orleans, the failure of levees led to catastrophic flooding that left a majority of the city submerged, thousands dead, and led to one of the most complex disaster recovery efforts in U.S. history.

“We had to wait for all of the construction to get done,” Bucich said about the train’s starting date. “There are a lot of steps. There are a lot of requirements by the Federal Railroad Administration, inspection safety elements on all of this. It just all came together on this date. This is the first date we could start this service.”

Here are some important details about the Amtrak Mardi Gras Service. The train was officially named in April after the pre-Lenten holiday that is celebrated throughout the Gulf Coast. Mobile claims to be the holiday’s birthplace, while New Orleans is universally recognized as a destination for Mardi Gras celebrations nationwide.

Start date

Amtrak groundbreaking in Mobile

An Amtrak passenger train rolls up to the site in downtown Mobile, Ala., where a future train platform will be built to service Gulf Coast service. The train served as a backdrop to a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, to commence the work needed before Amtrak service can restart sometime in early 2025, between Mobile to New Orleans with four stops in coastal Mississippi.John Sharp

The official start date for Amtrak Mardi Gras Service is Monday, Aug. 18. Amtrak plans to celebrate the start of the service with an inaugural train that will operate on Aug. 16, inviting public officials and others to thank them for working to bring the service back to the region. A schedule about that event will be released later this month.

Fares

Adult coach fares from Mobile to New Orleans start at $15 each way, less for shorter distances. There are everyday discounts for children ages 2-12, students, seniors, veterans, military personnel and families, small groups, large groups and others.

Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesperson, said the fares are competitive with similar state-supported, short-distance routes in the U.S. He said the 90-mile Chicago-to-Milwaukee route has fares starting at $20 each way.

“I think the pricing is very fair,” Stimpson said. “I think for $15, that sounded fair to me.”

Schedule

Amtrak Mardi Gras Service will depart from the Mobile depot twice daily, and return twice a day.

The westbound departures aboard Train 23 are set at 6:30 a.m. daily. There will be stops at the following locations: 7:13 a.m. in Pascagoula, 7:45 a.m. in Biloxi, 8:11 a.m. in Gulfport, 8:42 a.m. in Bay St. Louis, and 10:30 a.m. in New Orleans.

The westbound departures aboard Train 25 are set at 4:30 p.m. daily. There will be stops at 5:13 p.m. in Pascagoula, 5:48 p.m. in Biloxi, 6:11 p.m. in Gulfport, 6:42 p.m. in Bay St. Louis and 8:13 p.m. in New Orleans.

Eastbound departures from New Orleans Union Terminal to Mobile aboard Train 24 are as follows: 7:35 a.m. from New Orleans, 8:59 a.m. in Bay St. Louis, 9:31 a.m. in Gulfport, 9:55 a.m. in Biloxi, 10:29 a.m. in Pascagoula, and 11:18 a.m. in Mobile.

Eastbound departures from New Orleans Union Terminal to Mobile aboard Train 26 are as follows: 5:31 p.m. from New Orleans, 7 p.m. in Bay St. Louis, 7:32 p.m. in Gulfport, 7:56 p.m. in Biloxi, 8:28 p.m. in Pascagoula, and 9:14 p.m. in Mobile.

Amtrak does not have a provision in place for changing the hours. Magliari said the “schedule is the schedule” when asked if train scheduling may be altered to accommodate festivals or football games.

Said Bucich, “running a special train or adjusting is something we’d have to work on in the future.”

Train size

Amtrak Mardi Gras Service includes three cars and two locomotives. Seating capacity is 135, with the ability to add more. The Amtrak train will offer Coach and Business class services in addition to Café service.

The train features reclining seats, ample legroom, no middle seats, free WiFi, and a “generous carry-on baggage allowance.” Space is reserved in advance for golf bags and pets that are in carriers and within appropriate weight limits.

Café

The café menu features the typical fare – hamburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, and sausage and egg bagels.

But it also has cuisine choices aligned to the Gulf Coast. The menu includes an $8 Muffuletta sandwich, and snacks like Pralines and Moon Pies. Pralines are a popular confection in New Orleans, while Moon Pies are a popular Mardi Gras throw during parades in Mobile.

The beer menu includes New Orleans-based Abita Amber Lager and Chandeleur Lil’ Smack IPA.

Chandeleur Island Brewing Company is based in Gulfport. The brewery also is opening a location inside the historic train station in Pascagoula.

Long-distance connections

Amtrak Mardi Gras Service guests can have same-day connections to longer distance trains from New Orleans’ Union Terminal.

That includes the City of New Orleans train between New Orleans and Chicago via Jackson, Miss., and Memphis. In addition, there is a next-day connection in New Orleans to the Amtrak Crescent trains to and from New York and Atlanta, which traverse through Alabama with stops in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Anniston. The Amtrak Sunset Limited train is also serviced from New Orleans, connecting the city to Los Angeles via Tucson, San Antonio and Houston.

Amtrak Guest Rewards

Through Nov. 18, Amtrak Guest Rewards members can earn triple points on Amtrak Mardi Gras Service travel. To qualify, a member must complete three qualifying trips on the service during the three-month promotional period. Once the threshold is met, three-times the points will be awarded retroactively for those trips and for all additional qualifying trips taken through Nov. 18. Further details are on Amtrak.com.

Mobile promotions

Visit Mobile President & CEO David Clark said he anticipates brochures advertising things to do in the Mobile area will be available at the train depot or on board the train. He said there will be QR codes, greeters, and other features advertising the city to train users.

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