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Progress of projects presented at the meeting of the Southern Railway Commission
POINT CLEAR, Ala. — The launch of two daily Amtrak circular trips between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama depends on when the design and structure of a pocket track in Mobile is completed and 3 miles of positive activity are installed at CSX’s Gentilly Yard. New Orleans.
But that means service may not arrive until 2024, a reversal from an earlier estimate that it would begin this year [see “Gulf Coast Service Expected to Begin in 2023. . . Trains News Wire, December 12, 2022].
More than 30 in-person attendees and an equivalent number of Zoom attendees won this Gulf Coast service upgrade Friday at the Southern Railroad Commission’s quarterly assembly southeast of Mobile. The organization included members of the commission; civic leaders; and Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration and the states of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.
The Mobile facility will be located in what was once the parking lot of the former exercise station that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The typhoon terminated service along Sunset Limited’s previous direction to Florida. The new track will allow exercises waiting for the return from vacation to New Orleans during the day or night so as not to block either of CSX’s two main routes, and will have to end before the start of New Orleans-Mobile service. News Wire is waiting for data from CSX on the expected ending. Tactile schedule.
The CBC implemented a consolidated grant for rail infrastructure and security improvements, with increased input from Amtrak, the states, CSX, Norfolk Southern and the Alabama State Port Authority. Fund $223 million for infrastructure improvements [see “Grant seeks approximately $179 million . . . News Wire, December 16, 2022]. While the paintings will continue until 2026, passenger trains will begin running as soon as the harbor track is built in Mobile and the PTC is installed in Gentilly Yard.
“All plans and partnerships are moving forward and we want to be in position so we can start service next year between Mobile and New Orleans,” said Knox Ross, chairman of the SRC Commission. “Once all elements between the parties have been finalized, schedules, fares and even the start date and official call of rail service will be communicated in a joint official announcement through Amtrak and the Southern Rail Commission. In the meantime, we have work to do. Our subsidies will make the railway much smoother than today,” he adds.
Other main highlights of the meeting:
– Amtrak’s restaurant team is designed for local vendors to offer coffee dishes on New Orleans-Mobile service.
— Louisiana is offering $20. 5 million to meet local federal grant matching needs that the state must fix or upgrade Bonnet Square Weir 10 mph. This would pave the way for New Orleans-Baton Rouge passenger rail service on the former South Kansas City CPKC tracks.
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is a federal Mega Grant investment for a means of passenger transportation that would connect the terminals to a parking lot and exercise station on proposed routes from Baton Rouge and present-day New Orleans.
Given the persistent shortage of Amtrak aircraft, does Amtrak intend to maximize usage flying between Mobile-New Orleans-Baton Rouge?
Will Mobile and Baton Rouge trains be scheduled to cover long-distance schedules in New Orleans to/from Chicago, New York and Los Angeles?
Will Amtrak “throw a bone” at Alabama and allow the state to operate/supply the coffee car as Maine does lately with the “Downeaster” (which offers a marked improvement over the same old Penn Central-type caffeinated Amtrak)?
Will the construction of a staffed station accompany the pocket track?Or will it be to the Amtrak station in Roanoke with a single platform and one track?
Understand the need to follow a trail. However, why can only Amtrak trains pass through the backyard at limited speeds until the PTC is finished in the backyard?Perhaps you don’t understand the requirements of the PTC?
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