‘Amtrak expects to be able to run the train’: Mississippi city to reactivate train station for Gulf Coast

The coastal Mississippi city of Bay St. Louis is hosting a groundbreaking on Monday to celebrate the “reactivation” of the city’s Amtrak train station that has been mothballed since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast nearly 17 years ago.

US Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg will be on hand for a 2 pm event that includes a groundbreaking for the construction activity that will take place to get the station prepared for Amtrak’s return.

The only problem: Amtrak’s return remains uncertain.

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The nation’s passenger rail operator is currently in mediation with two freight companies – CSX and Norfolk Southern – over the fate of a twice-daily service connecting Mobile to New Orleans. Bay St. Louis is one of four coastal Mississippi stops along the route.

The mediation was ordered in May by the US Surface Transportation Board. The board, for the first time in its 26-year history, is involved in determining the control of a US rail line pitting Amtrak against freight operators.

The battle is high stakes at a time when Amtrak is angling to make substantial investments to its national network after receiving $66 billion from the federal bipartisan infrastructure law last year.

“Amtrak expects to be able to run the train,” said Knox Ross, a Mississippi-based member on the Southern Rail Commission, who will be at the groundbreaking. “That’s the message being sent.”

Ross said Amtrak’s expectations are for a favorable STB ruling to operate the Gulf Coast service, despite intense opposition from CSX and NS and a host of Alabama-based officials headed up by the Alabama State Port Authority.

The STB, in June, ordered mediation in a case that began in March 2021, when Amtrak sought an order from the governmental agency to allow inter-city passenger trains to operate on the freight lines between Mobile and New Orleans.

Marc Magliari, spokesman with Amtrak, said the event in Bay St. Louis represents the beginning of a multi-phase project to make the stops along the Gulf Coast route handicap accessible, or ADA compliant.

“We’ll do this to all of the stations across Bay St. Louis to Mobile,” said Magliari. He estimates the projects costing Amtrak around $2 million. The work in Mobile will take place sometime in August.

“We are doing what we need to do and that is taking every reasonable step to prepare for service whether that is hiring crews or making these stations ADA compliant,” he said. “In some ways, this is the first step toward reactivating these station locations and beginning service.”

Magliari said that Amtrak is receiving cooperation from CSX, who will supply a flagger to ensure construction crews are alerted whenever a freight train passes by “to make sure they do so safely.”

NS and CSX both declined comment about the groundbreaking event in Bay St. Louis.

“CSX is focused on the active litigation before the Surface Transportation Board, where the impact of our customers of Amtrak’s proposed new passenger service is under evaluation,” said Cindy Schild, spokeswoman with CSX.

Also declining comment was the Alabama State Port Authority, which is the only non-railroad entity involved in the active mediation.

Ross said Amtrak’s belief is that they will “have a good outcome from the STB.”

But he also admitted there was some risk of sinking money into a project before receiving the authority to go ahead with restarting the passenger rail line.

“They are willing to take that risk because they believe in the service and believe they will run it,” he said.

This file photo shows passengers boarding an Amtrak train heading to New Orleans from Atlanta on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. A federal board is hearing testimony on whether to let Amtrak passenger resume train service linking New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, over the objections of freight companies. The hearings are before the US Surface Transportation Board. (AP Photo/David Goldman)AP

Amtrak, in recent days, submitted to the STB additional analysis showing the Gulf Coast service will cause “no unreasonable impairment” for the freight operators, and that no new infrastructure is needed to accommodate the service.

The STB, in May, requested additional evidence from Amtrak, CSX and NS on whether additional passenger trains will disrupt freight service.

Freight operators, along the Alabama Port, argued in April that introducing a twice-daily Amtrak route between Mobile and New Orleans – without any improvements to the 120-mile rail line – will create “staggering” delays in Alabama.

Amtrak believes the freight operators are making unreasonable capital improvement demands, totaling more than $400 million. A CSX attorney, in April, argued that infrastructure demands are hefty near the Port of Mobile and that delays would be likely.

The Alabama port, along with most Alabama state officials, have long been opposed to Amtrak returning to the Gulf Coast if a rail-traffic control analysis – conducted in collaboration with CSX, NS and Amtrak – is not completed, and its recommendations followed. A prior study completed by CSX and NS, but disputed by Amtrak, estimated $405 million to $440 million in capital upgrades were needed before the twice-daily service could be restored without major impacts to the freight trains.

Amtrak, in early 2021, pulled out of negotiations with CSX and NS for the completion of a rail-traffic control study out of frustration about the study being stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amtrak officials also noted that previous studies into the rail line had been conducted and that enough analysis was prepared to get the service restarted.