MOBILE, Ala. - A City Council committee, Alabama State Port and governor's office, are dimming the chances for reviving Amtrak passenger rail service along the northern Gulf Coast from New Orleans to Mobile. Three members of the City Council’s finance committee withheld support for funding service through the port city during a meeting Jan. 22. AL.com reported the full council could vote on the issue next week. Amtrak hasn’t operated along the coast since 2005's Hurricane Katrina. The Southern Rail Commission supports restarting passenger trains between Mobile and New Orleans with stops in Mississippi. Officials at the Alabama State Port say passenger trains could disrupt CSX freight service through the port, and city leaders, including Mayor Sandy Stimpson, have expressed concerns. There has been a long-running feud between CSX and the SRC over conflicting data provided by the freight company for an initial study of the Amtrak project that dates back to at least 2017. Louisiana and Mississippi have approved funding to restart the trains, but Alabama has not. Mobile is being asked to commit as much as $3M over three years to pay for Amtrak service that was expected to re-start in 2023. The finance commitment doesn’t include potential capital costs to upgrade the existing rail line. An additional $2.2M is needed from an Alabama-based source to finance those improvements, but Gov. Kay Ivey hasn’t backed the project. Mississippi has dedicated $15M, Louisiana has approved $10M, and Amtrak has set aside $6M toward capital improvements along the rail line. The project faces a deadline of Feb. 5 for getting local funding to match federal funding. (Source: The AP 01/22/20)
Shipbuilding and maritime related news from the Central Gulf Coast region
