Gulf Coast Service Expected to Start in 2023

Amtrak’s proposed service along the Gulf Coast is expected to launch next year although no date has been set.

News reports indicated the details of an agreement between Amtrak and its host railroads that will pave the way for the twice-daily service to begin remain confidential.

What is known is that Amtrak will pay for the creation of a station in Mobile, Alabama, the eastern terminus of the route. CSX is expected to pay to build a station track in Mobile so passenger trains are not blocking traffic on the mainline.

Amtrak wants to operate between New Orleans and Mobile on a route once used by the tri-weekly Sunset Limited.

The route will use tracks of Norfolk Southern and CSX with most of the route being on track of the latter. It is not yet clear if Amtrak plans to operate one a day or twice a day when it begins service next year between New Orleans and Mobile.

In a related development, the Southern Rail Commission is seeking a $179 million federal grant that would pay for part of the instructure work needed for the New Orleans-Mobile route to host passenger service.

The funds would come from the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement fund.

CSX is expected to pay almost $10 million toward matching the grant while the Alabama State Port Authority will contribute $750,000 and Amtrak will pay $6 million.

Grant funds will be used to pay for infrastructure work in 12 areas and include new switches and turnovers, siding extensions, crossovers, and station, yard, and crossing work.

That work is expected to take until 2026 to complete but Amtrak expects to be able to operate on the route during that time.

Once the infrastructure work is completed, the travel time between New Orleans and Mobile is expected to be 2 hours, 23 minutes.

Gulf Coast Case Settlement Reported

Amtrak, CSX and Norfolk Southern told the U.S. Surface Transportation Board last week that they have reached an agreement that would allow new passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.

The announcement came in the form of a motion asking the STB to hold in abeyance hearings regulators had set for Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 in the case.

Amtrak brought the case in 2021 when it asked the STB to order NS and CSX to host the proposed double-daily service.

The host railroads had demanded infrastructure improvements that Amtrak considers excessive. Hearings were held earlier this year.

Also a party to the case is the Port of Mobile, which has expressed concern that the proposed Amtrak service would interfere with freight rail operations to the port.

Thus far the terms of the agreement have not yet been revealed nor has a date been set for when the service would commence.

The filing with the STB said, “The Parties have agreed to settlement terms that, when fully implemented, will lead to a complete resolution of this proceeding.”

The parties said they considered the settlement to be confidential and they would not comment upon it for the time being.

Earlier attempts to resolve the case through mediation had failed.

STB Delays Gulf Coast Case Final Hearings

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board has agreed to postpone final hearings in the Gulf Coast case.

Regulators acted after the parties to the case told the Board there was a “substantial probability” of reaching a settlement through arbitration.

The case was brought by Amtrak against CSX and Norfolk Southern in an effort to obtain an STB order directing those railroads to host double-daily new passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.

The sticking point has been infrastructure improvements the host railroads have demanded that Amtrak has described as exorbitant and unneeded.

The case has focused on whether the addition of passenger service would unduly interfere with the host railroads freight operations.

The STB had been scheduled to conduct hearings late this month and to hold a conference in early December with the goal of reaching a decision in the case.

Instead, regulators directed the parties in the case, which also includes the Alabama State Port Authority, to provide a status report by Nov. 21 on their negotiations.

If a settlement is not reached, the STB said it would conduct hearings via Zoom on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, and hold a conference on Dec. 7.

The parties in the case said if a final hearing is held they do not plan to call witnesses but instead will make their final arguments.

STB Grants Additional Mediation in Gulf Coast Case

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board has agreed to give the parties in the Gulf Coast case additional time in mediation.

The STB granted the request by Amtrak, CSX, Norfolk Southern and the Alabama State Port Authority to engage in mediation for another month.

The agency had been set to hold hearings on the case in mid-November and issue a decision by early December.

In its order, the STB said it still plans to hold the hearings as scheduled unless it is notified by the parties by Nov. 10 that they want the hearings to be delayed or cancelled.

The parties would need to show the Board that substantial progress has been made in reaching a settlement in the dispute.

Amtrak is seeking an STB order allowing it to use CSX and Norfolk Southern tracks to launch twice-daily new passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.

The two host railroads have demanded what Amtrak considers an exorbitant level of infrastructure improvements before they will agree to host the trains.

The freight carriers have said Amtrak service would disrupt their freight operations without those improvements, an assertion that Amtrak denies.

If the hearings are not held as planned but no settlement is reached, the STB said it would conduct the hearings on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.

The STB held 11 days of hearings in the case earlier this year.

Parties Want More Time for Mediation in Gulf Coast Case

The soap opera sage along the Gulf Coast added another chapter this week when the parties to the case before the U.S. Surface Transportation Board asked for another month of mediation.

The action followed last week’s STB action in setting hearing dates for the case, which involves Amtrak seeking an STB order to host railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern to allow two daily roundtrips between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.

The Mobile service proposal has languished for years, largely due to host railroad demands for multi-million infrastructure improvements that Amtrak has balked at providing.

In recent months the parties in the dispute, which also includes the Alabama State Port Authority, have argued over how Amtrak service would affect freight service on the route.

Amtrak and the host railroads have engaged in STB-sponsored mediation before, but failed to reach an agreement to resolve the dispute.

The STB said last week that it could vote as early as Dec. 7 on resolving the dispute.

But Amtrak, CSX, NS and the port authority want the STB hearings to be delayed while mediation continues. They asked that regulators to stay proceedings in the case until Dec. 1.

The STB had set hearings for Nov. 17-18. However, the parties in the dispute said it would be difficult to conduct mediation and attend those hearings at the same time.

The STB has indicated that its preference is for the parties to settle their differences among themselves rather than have the Board decree a resolution.

Platform Work Begins on Gulf Coast Route

Although Amtrak service may still be years away, officials held a ground-breaking ceremony in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, last week to mark the “reactivation” of the city’s passenger station.

Amtrak’s Sunset Limited once stopped here, but that service ended in August 2005 in wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Amtrak has proposed establishing double daily service between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, that would serve Bay St. Louis.

The start of that service is uncertain because the passenger carrier is locked in a dispute with host railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern over infrastructure improvements needed to host passenger service.

The dispute is currently before the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.

In a news release, the Southern Rail Commission said renovation of the Bay St. Louis station will begin soon so that it will be ready for the launch of the Gulf Coast service.

Boarding platforms in Gulfport, Biloxi and Pascagoula also need to be renovated.

“We are doing the platforms that are essential to properly serving our customers all the way across the Gulf Coast,” said Marc Magliari, an Amtrak media relations manager.

Amtrak is paying for the platform renovations. Magliari predicted that the Gulf Coast service would begin around the first of next year.

“We’ve been very public with our position that the Gulf Coast needs this service, the Gulf Coast deserves this service,” Magliari said. “This service is very possible; all we have to do is get some working agreements with the folks that own the tracks.”

STB Gulf Coast Case Hearings Resume Monday

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board will resume its hearings in the Gulf Coast Case on Monday and Wednesday.

The hearings began last month and involves Amtrak trying to get federal regulators to give it access to tracks of CSX and Norfolk Southern for proposed double-daily service between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.

CSX and NS have demand that Amtrak made infrastructure improvements before agreeing to host the trains. Amtrak has balked at the scope of those improvements.

STB Rejects Gulf Coast Case Mediation Request

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board turned down a request by CSX and Norfolk Southern for mediation in the Gulf Coast service case.

Instead, regulators plan to conduct evidentiary hearings starting April 4 in a case brought by Amtrak seeking an order forcing CSX and NS to host double daily passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.

In its ruling the STB said it might have been willing to order mediation had all parties agree to it.

But Amtrak opposed the mediation request, describing it as yet another effort by the host railroads to delay the proceedings.

“Had all parties been willing to enter into mediation, the Board might have been inclined to more favorably consider the request, even at this late date, since this matter appears to be one that could have been resolved through mediation,” the STB wrote in part.

The STB ruling noted that regulators normally favor mediation rather than an STB ordered resolution of a dispute.

Amtrak brought the case in March 2021. Earlier hearings were held on Feb. 15-16.

Amtrak Rejects Gulf Coast Case Mediation

Amtrak has opposed a request by CSX and Norfolk Southern that the Gulf Coast case be settled through mediation.

The passenger carrier called mediation yet another delaying tactic by the host railroads.

CSX and NS recently asked the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to order mediation in the case, which Amtrak brought in March 2021 in an effort to force the host railroads to allow new intercity rail passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.

Amtrak asked the STB to delay any action on mediation until after the Board conducts an evidentiary hearing in early April.

In a filing dated March 28, Amtrak said it agreed with CSX and NS that “an amicable resolution of this matter may be possible,” but the move to mediation is “yet another attempt to further delay a process that has already been delayed far too long.

“At the very least the motion is premature in as much as it presumes that the building of infrastructure is necessary for Amtrak to resume the Gulf Coast service, and therefore necessary for the parties to negotiate over.”

The evidentiary hearing has been set for April 4-5.

NS, CSX Seek Mediation in Gulf Coast Case

The Gulf Coast Amtrak service dispute may be headed to mediation.

CSX and Norfolk Southern want the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to appoint a mediator to help them resolve their dispute with Amtrak over the latter’s efforts to start passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.

Amtrak more than a year ago brought a case before the STB seeking an order forcing the would-be host railroads to allow the service to begin.

The parties have been at odds over the level of infrastructure improvements that are needed to the route to accommodate passenger service.

Regulators held public hearings in February and are set to conduct an evidentiary hearing in early April.

If the STB appoints a mediator, all parties would have to accept whatever resolution of the dispute the mediator enables the parties to reach.