Amtrak’s return to the Gulf Coast continues to be a question with very few answers to it.

Will the trains roll between New Orleans to Mobile before the end of the year? How much will tickets cost? When can I start reserving a trip?

“We wanted to start the train the first of October,” said Knox Ross, secretary/treasurer with the Southern Rail Commission – the agency created by Congress in 1982, and advocates for passenger rail service in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. “There are just so many moving parts.”

Related content:

One of the major parts that needs to be resolved is the finalization of an agreement to build some sort of train stop in downtown Mobile at the foot of Water and Government streets, where Amtrak once had a train station years ago.

Mobile city and Amtrak officials are in negotiations on a land lease agreement that will allow the train to stop in the Alabama Port City and serve as an anchor to the Mobile-to-New Orleans route. Capital improvements allowing for train stops four Mississippi cities – Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay St. Louis – are completed.

Candace Cooksey, a spokesperson for Mayor Sandy Stimpson, said any final deal will require City Council approval.

“The city and Amtrak are still working through the details of an agreement,” Cooksey said. “We are making good progress but have not finalized the terms. Any and all arrangements and future construction or real estate actions would require the approval of the city council,” she said.

Council concerns

That will be no sure bet. At least two council members could be on the fence, and it takes a five-vote supermajority of the seven-member body to pass almost anything that comes before them for consideration.

A special election to determine the new Mobile City Council District 6 representative could loom large on whether an agreement receives the council’s backing.

Mobile City Councilmen Joel Daves and Ben Reynolds said they have not been part of negotiations between the city and Amtrak and were not aware of any official updates on what the council’s role might be regarding an agreement with the national passenger rail carrier.

Daves, in 2021, called the route a “joyride for the affluent.” He was the only council member in 2020, to vote against a $3 million commitment to Amtrak to support the operations of the Gulf Coast route.

Reynolds, during an interview with AL.com on Monday, said he has plenty of unanswered questions over the city’s role in upkeep and maintenance of a future train stop. He also said he’s unsure about the specific resolutions the Alabama State Port Authority might have reached with Amtrak from last year’s confidentiality agreement before the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB).

“I haven’t been briefed on any of this,” Reynolds said, adding he was last brought up to speed on the issues at a time when the Port Authority vocally objected to restarting passenger rail for the first time in 18 years along the Gulf Coast.

Focus on Mobile

The dispute between the Port and Amtrak was among the focal points of concern during months of disagreements and negotiations before the U.S. STB. The dispute, which lasted most of 2022, was resolved under a confidentiality agreement that prohibited the parties from disclosing much. Aside from the Port and Amtrak, the rail line’s chief freight operators – CSX and Norfolk Southern — were also involved.

The parties have until October 31, to file a joint status report on the implementation of the agreement to the STB, according to a June 30 filing.

Reynolds said he was unsure why Mobile taxpayers would want to further support a route that will result in moving more residents out of the city and into New Orleans.

David Clark, president & CEO with Visit Mobile and a member of the SRC, said he anticipates “a couple hundred passengers a day” backed with European travelers into New Orleans.

“A lot of these European travel markets, they like rail,” Clark said. “A lot of Europeans do fly into the New Orleans airport, (from the) United Kingdom and into Atlanta and a lot of Atlantans come down here. They might visit Mobile and then take the rail over to the New Orleans airport until ours is built (near downtown Mobile).”

But when exactly will the visitors come? If it’s up to Mobile, it could take another four months once ground is broken to build a train stop, Clark said. In addition, a 1,300-foot track off the main line has to be built to accommodate the passenger trains.

That could push the starting date toward near the end of 2023, at the earliest. Amtrak and SRC officials, late last year, anticipated opening the route for passenger trains in 2023.

More information needed

Ross said he doesn’t want the public to think that Mobile is the reason why the route has not restarted yet, adding “I want to make sure no one gets the idea that neither Amtrak nor Mobile are dragging their feet. I haven’t heard that.”

Ross said there are other issues at play including the fate of an approximately $179 million application for federal money through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program. The Federal Railroad Administration has yet to reward the CRISI funds that – combined with CSX, Norfolk Southern and the Port Authority – will allow for additional infrastructure improvements.

Ross said he is hopeful and anticipates the details about the rail route – its start-up date, the ticket prices, and other facts – disclosed during the September 8 SRC meeting at The Grand Hotel in Point Clear.

“I’m hoping by September, we can tell you exactly what will happen,” he said.

Reporter Margaret Kates contributor to this report.