Train travel through the South is about to get a fresh impetus next year, as a route along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana is on track to be restored after a nearly 20-year hiatus.
Amtrak recently received approval to restart its train service from Mobile, Alabama, to New Orleans, a stretch of track which was last operated by the passenger train company in 2005. When Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf region in August of that year, the coastal rail route—which was part of Amtrak’s larger Sunset Limited line—went on indefinite hiatus. In the decades since, lawmakers and rail officials have gone back and forth about whether or not the route should be resumed.
However, earlier this month, the passenger service was cleared to make its triumphant return. On August 6, the Mobile City Council approved a funding plan by which the city’s port authority and city council agreed to allocate $3 million to relaunch the rail route—the final piece of the budget needed to officially greenlight the project. The $3 million boost comes on top of a federal grant of $178.4 million from the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program, as well as contributions from the states of Louisiana and Mississippi.
"With the funding in place, this train can roll soon, and it will have a great return on investment and a tremendous impact in connecting people with jobs and education opportunities, boosting our local economies, and supporting our growing tourism industry in our coastal cities," Knox Ross, the chair of the Southern Rail Commission, said in a release.
Once launched, passengers can expect a picturesque route with views of the Gulf and estuaries like Lake Pontchartrain, as well as access to charming coastal towns along the way. The service plans to operate twice daily and stop in four cities in Mississippi—Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay St. Louis—on its way between Mobile and New Orleans. There’s no firm timeline yet as to when the train will get up and running again, but officials are hoping to restart the line by February 2025, in time for Super Bowl LIX taking place on February 9 in New Orleans, as well as the city’s famous Mardi Gras celebrations.
Smaller towns located along the way hope the route's revival will help bring in renewed interest from tourists. “We anticipate a significant boost in tourism, as visitors will now have a convenient and scenic way to reach Pascagoula,” says Susannah Northrop, executive director of Main Street Pascagoula. “This rail connection will allow us to showcase our city’s attractions and hospitality to a new wave of tourists who may not have considered visiting before.”
Northrop describes Pascagoula, which has a population just over 21,000 people, as a unique blend of Southern charm and coastal beauty. The train station is within walking distance of the city’s downtown district offering local shops, hotels, restaurants, and views of the Pascagoula River.
“This development is a game-changer for Pascagoula and the entire Gulf Coast,” Northrop says. “We’re eager to welcome train travelers and provide them with an unforgettable experience, whether they’re here for a day trip or an extended stay.”
Still, the project is in its earliest stages, with a few more construction hurdles to clear before the train can relaunch. Additional track will need to be built in Mobile so the train can park overnight to keep it from interfering with freight operations, an Amtrak spokesperson says, and utilities need to be moved in order to build that track. Amtrak is hopeful that construction can get underway by late October, putting the route’s relaunch in the first or second quarter of 2025.
Other details that remain up in the air includ e the train line’s official new name, as well as the cost of fares—two announcements that Amtrak hopes to make in coming months.
