Sixteen years ago, Hurricane Katrina’s strong winds and powerful storm surge damaged rail stations and infrastructure along the Gulf Coast rail line. As a result, passenger rail has not operated along it ever since.
Amtrak is targeting a New Year’s Day return to the Gulf Coast line, and its case before the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) is expected to conclude soon. Preparations are underway to resume passenger service between Mobile and New Orleans as the Biden Administration prioritizes boosting Amtrak services nationwide.
And then Hurricane Ida hit.
The Category 4 storm brought powerful winds and flooding to coastal Louisiana, and Mississippi. Early indications are that the rail line didn’t suffer major damage.
“I have not heard of anything that has come across my desk saying there was any damage of substance,” said Knox Ross, a Mississippi-based commissioner on the Southern Rail Commission, which advocates for passenger rail opportunities in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
The two freight lines that operate along the rail are still assessing damages. Norfolk Southern, in a statement after the storm, confirmed that its immediate network had not experienced any washouts. The company’s statement said that service in the area had been impacted by local conditions like flooding and a lack of electricity at specific terminals, including in New Orleans.
CSX is providing advisories on its website. The latest update was on Tuesday, in which the company confirmed it was making repairs on the CSX tracks and signals on the New Orleans & Mobile line along the Louisiana and Mississippi coast. Shipments on the Southeast portion of the CSX network “may be delayed as recovery efforts continue,” the company confirmed.
Mobile to Baton Rouge
If anything, passenger rail advocates seem to be more encouraged by action that occurred days after the storm when the STB – in a separate ruling from the Gulf Coast line – halted a major rail merger. The move, according to some rail advocates, could lead to a future connection of Amtrak service along the Gulf Coast to Baton Rouge.
The STB ruling on Tuesday was a rejection of Canadian National’s proposal to use a voting trust to acquire the Kansas City Southern railroad. The decision could allow for the approval of a competing bid to purchase KCS from Canadian Pacific Railway, a company that passenger rail advocates believe will be more supportive to Amtrak service.
An 80-mile stretch between New Orleans and Baton Rouge generated interest during the STB proceedings because it’s the only route in the country with overlap of existing rail lines operated by Canadian National and Kansas City Southern. Canadian National, to make its merger proposal more attractive to the STB, is proposing to divest the Kansas City Southern line.
Amtrak wants to restore passenger rail service between New Orleans and Baton Rouge for the first time since 1969, and it says Canadian National’s plan would create a “major impediment” toward achieving its goal.
“CN’s ‘divestiture’ proposal is the equivalent of a homeowner selling their house but reserving the right to continue to live in it,” according to an Amtrak filing to the STB.
The SRC has attempt to discuss with Kansas City Southern on passenger rail services along its lines before, but rail management has not been interested, according to a report on trains.com. That includes its Baton Rouge to New Orleans line.
Ross said that Canadian Pacific, if its acquisition of KCS is allowed, could create opportunities along the Interstate 20 corridor in Louisiana for Amtrak services. He said that Canadian Pacific’s involvement could also lead to an Amtrak connection linking Mobile to New Orleans and northwest to into Baton Rouge.
Canadian Pacific has committed to working with Amtrak in intermixing freight and passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
“If we did the Baton Rogue to New Orleans (connection), that would create a corridor along the Gulf from Mobile to Baton Rouge, which we think is a positive,” Ross said. “It would connect three major cities along the coast, and three major U.S. ports and tourism and just all sorts of positives there.”
Amtrak is pushing the STB to decide on allowing it to operate, once again, along the freight line connecting Mobile to New Orleans with four stops in Mississippi – Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport and Bay St. Louis. The service has been suspended since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.
Amtrak was opposed to Canadian National’s voting trust plan. The nation’s passenger rail operator said the voting trust would have been harmful for future passenger rail service in Louisiana.
Alabama Port: Pro-merger
The Alabama State Port Authority supports Canadian National’s acquisition of Kansas City Southern, arguing that it would be a good business move for the Mobile seaport and its freight shippers.
The differences between the two entities places them on similar opposite ends on future rail use.
Alabama port officials and Amtrak have butted heads in recent years over the future operations along the Gulf Coast line. The port – as well as Norfolk Southern and CSX – wants Amtrak to resume participation in a rail capacity study which was halted last year. The study would presumably show how Amtrak services will affect freight operations into the Port of Mobile. The Port of New Orleans has also requested Amtrak to reconsider its stance on the study.
Amtrak officials said it halted the study last year after talks stalled during the coronavirus pandemic. Officials said that the study should have lasted only seven months, and that negotiations had crawled beyond a time frame they felt was suitable.
Judith Adams, a spokeswoman with the port authority, said the STB’s ruling on the Canadian National bid was not “final action.”
Adams said the merger would provide the port benefits, such as consolidation of management and resources over the rail network and provide for long-term and consistent strategic planning and investment. She also said it would streamline operations and generate service efficiencies “for the benefit of capacity and cost efficiency objectives.”
Adams said that Mobile is one of three ports on the Gulf of Mexico that can serve Midwest markets, with Houston and New Orleans being the others. She said that Canadian National’s acquisition of Kansas City Southern would not eliminate services in Mobile, but would “preserve our access to our western markets (North Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas City).”
“We think there is a risk of losing KCS under a (Canadian Pacific) merger, which would drive our shippers and their cargo into Houston or (New Orleans),” said Adams. “Houston and New Orleans are congested. Mobile has capacity.”
Ross said that STB’s recent decision aligns with a vision that “really focuses on the public interest” that prohibits consolidation of rail lines. The STB has not approved a major railroad merger since the 1990s. The acquisition of Kansas City Southern by either Canadian railroad operations would create the first direct link connecting the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
“The STB appears to focus on rail rate competition but does not appear to look at the entire supply chain cost structure, which includes ocean carriage and port costs,” Adams said. “Limiting port and ocean carriage options and using congested ports generate service delays and higher rate structures for shippers.”
She also argued against Canadian Pacific’s claims that a merger would hinder rail competition in the U.S. She said that both rail companies serve the same Midwest markets where rail is more cost competitive over trucks, “so we don’t see where one would have a monopoly over another if they already serve those markets.”
Adams added, “The STB concerns that consolidation is eliminating competition fails to recognize the BNSF railroad also services Houston, (New Orleans), and Mobile in those same markets except Arkansas.”
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