Amtrak begins test runs for Gulf Coast passenger train service
Southern Rail Commissioner hopeful for more progress in Mobile soon
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Things are moving full speed ahead with the return of Amtrak’s passenger train service to our area. Southern Rail Commissioner and Visit Mobile CEO David Clark says an Amtrak train already made it to the port city yesterday as part of its test runs from New Orleans.
“The test runs are kind of testing the tracks and seeing how things are going to get the train moving down the tracks. The good news is that it made it here, so the tracks are obviously in pretty good shape,” said David Clark.
Clark says the new train service is expected to bring an extra 16,000 visitors to Mobile a year, which would be a big revenue boost for the city.
“$3-4 million impact a year pretty easily off of that,” said Clark. “People staying in hotels, eating at restaurants, seeing our great attractions and having different experiences.”
The new route includes four stops in Mississippi. So far Biloxi, Bay St. Louis, Pascagoula and Gulfport have their platforms finished but work hasn’t started on stations here in Mobile. Clark says they hope to change that soon.
“We have a meeting March 10 in New Orleans to discuss those very same points of what that looks like, so we’ll know hopefully what that looks like, but it doesn’t take a lot of money to get a station up and running,” added Clark.
Clark says there’s been discussions about having a station near the convention center and possibly another one at the new airport at Brookley.
We reached out to Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s office to see if there was any update on when a station might be built. While there hasn’t been a timeline established the mayor’s administration sent us this statement that says:
“We have been in touch with Amtrak and are aware of the training exercises they are conducting this week. We look forward to working together as they continue to take the necessary steps to bring passenger rail back to Mobile.”
Clark also mentioned that a grant has been secured to fund the first two years of operational expenses once the rail service starts running again.
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