Amtrak Announces August 18 Start Date for Mardi Gras Line

Massachusetts, Arizona Corridors Advance in FRA Corridor ID Program

An Amtrak test train rolls past Gulfport, MS depot. Gulfport is one of the stops for Amtrak’s new Mardi Gras line, which begins service between New Orleans and Mobile, AL, August 18. Amtrak Media photo.

Three future state-supported Amtrak routes in different parts of the country and at various stages of development hint at what is in store for U.S. rail travelers over the next decade. Their stories illustrate the challenges sponsoring agencies face as they traverse the seemingly endless path from “Let’s do this!” to “All Aboard.”

First, Amtrak announced August 18 will be the start date for its new “Mardi Gras” service between Mobile, AL, and New Orleans, LA. For close to a decade, the Southern Rail Commission has been working with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Amtrak, host railroads, and state and local officials to get this train on the road.

The train makes two daily round trips. Eastbound trains depart New Orleans at 7:35 am and 5:31 pm. They are due in Mobile at 11:18 am and 9:14 pm, respectively. Westbound, the 6:30 am train from Mobile gets to New Orleans at 10:13 a.m. The 4:30 pm departure reaches the Crescent City at 8:13 pm. The 145-mile trip takes three hours and 43 minutes at an average speed of 39 mph.

The schedule allows same-day connections in both directions to the City of New Orleans. Connections to the Crescent or Sunset Limited require an overnight stay.

Advance coach fares start at $15. The train also offers business class, and local food items such as Moon Pies and muffaletta sandwiches are available in the café.

Trains make four intermediate stops in Mississippi: Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay St. Louis. Backers of the service are betting on tourists using it to visit the area’s beaches, casinos, cultural attractions, and eateries

“We know this service will have tremendous impact in boosting our local economies, connecting people with jobs and education opportunities, and bolstering our vibrant tourism industry in the coastal cities along the route,” said Knox Ross, Chairman of the Southern Rail Commission.

In 1993 the Sunset Limited was extended from New Orleans through Mobile to Miami. That service was permanently suspended when Hurricane Katrina tore up much of the railroad west of Mobile in 2005. Amtrak offered a daily Mobile – New Orleans train, the Gulf Coast Limited, 1984 – 1985 and 1996 – 1997. Both times it was cancelled when funding ran out.

The campaign to restore passenger service started soon after Amtrak ran an inspection train from New Orleans to Jacksonville in 2016. The following year FRA and SRC released a report identifying infrastructure requirements to accommodate twice daily passenger service.

However, five years passed before Amtrak reached an operating agreement with host railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern. Service was supposed to begin in 2023 but one issue after another delayed start-up almost two years.

When Alabama declined to join Mississippi and Louisiana in providing financial support, the city of Mobile stepped up, but it took more than a year to iron out a funding agreement. The Port of Mobile, a major driver of that city’s economy, opposed the service and claimed it would interfere with port operations.

Mobile and Amtrak reached an agreement in August 2024. But Amtrak still needed a location for a station platform and a track for overnight storage. These and other infrastructure improvements such as track and signal improvements and grade crossing upgrades were funded through a $178.5 million CRISI (Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements) grant made in 2023.

The launch announcement marks a huge win for the Southern Rail Commission, which engages and informs public and private rail interests to support and influence Southeast rail initiatives. It pushed for the Mardi Gras service for more than a decade and will now handle oversight of train operations and promotion.

Despite the hoopla I don’t expect the Mardi Gras route to become a top performer for Amtrak. For starters, it has modest ridership expectations – 68,000 thousand in the first year, which works out to fewer than 50 passengers per run. Also, its slow schedule is hardly competitive with driving. Charlotte – Atlanta or Atlanta – Nashville would have been better candidates for the South’s next intercity passenger route.

Further, the New Orleans and Mobile Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) have been losing population for several years. The New Orleans – Metarie MSA ranks 49th with 966,230 people in 2024; Mobile comes in at 136^th with 412,339 residents. The Gulfport – Biloxi MSA ranks slightly higher at 130 with 426,793 people.

But, to paraphrase Old Blue Eyes, if you can make it there you can make it anywhere.

East – West Corridor Update

In May FRA awarded $3.6 million to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to create a service development plan for a new passenger train between Boston and Albany. The grant moves the project to the second phase of FRA’s Corridor Identification and Development (CID) program. It follows on an initial award of $500,000 announced in December 2023.

CID was included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act of 2021. Its objective is to create "a pipeline of intercity passenger rail projects ready for implementation and future investment." It does not provide construction or advanced design funding, however

This east-west line is the newest addition to MassDOT’s Compass Rail vision for intercity passenger rail service. While several passenger routes serve Massachusetts in a north – south direction east – west intercity service is currently limited to the Boston section of the Lake Shore, which runs to and from Chicago. As many as eight daily round trips would cover the route.

Advancing the east-west line is contingent upon progress on two projects in later stages of development: the Inland Route project and the Springfield Area Track Reconfiguration Program.

The Inland Route project calls for upgrading and removing key bottlenecks over 54 miles of CSX’s Boston Line between Worcester and Springfield. It is funded through a $108 million grant through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) program plus a $27 million match from the state.

Ten daily freight trains and the Lake Shore Limited currently use this route. It has 44 miles of single track railroad and is frequently congested, CSX maintains it currently cannot accommodate more passenger service.

The project calls for 23 miles of new passing sidings to ease congestion. Upgrades to track and signals, including straightening many curves, would enable passenger trains to operate at a top speed of 80 mph (FRA Class IV). A new station in Palmer would be added, as well.

The improvements would cut 20 minutes off passenger schedules. The Boston – Springfield run could be made in two hours and ten minutes, which is competitive with driving. Plans call for two trains in each direction. They would continue to New Haven or New York via CT Rail’s recently upgraded Hartford Line, which has a top speed of 110 mph.

The project is currently in design phase with construction scheduled to begin in 2027 with completion in 2029 or 2030.

The Springfield Area Track Reconfiguration Program will address chokepoints that occur at or near Springfield Union Station, where several freight line and Amtrak routes converge. Plans call for upgraded station platforms, new crossovers and layup tracks. When finished the station will be able to accommodate eight more trains a day.

After an award for preliminary engineering and environmental permitting in 2023, FRA granted $36.8 million for design work through the CRISI program. However, construction funds for the project have yet to be identified. Thus there is no schedule for completion.

The east – west line would close a gap in Amtrak’s Northeast system by adding frequencies to an underserved route. Passengers would be able to transfer at Albany-Rensselaer for trains to the Hudson Valley, Montreal, Burlington, VT, Niagara Falls, and Toronto. At Springfield Union Station connections could be made for New Haven, Hartford, Northampton, Greenfield, and Vermont.

However, this route has a serious disadvantage. It is much slower than driving and the investment needed to make it time-competitive is prohibitive. The crossing of the Berkshires is scenic but slows the train too much. If MassDOT can cut an hour or more from the Boston – Albany run the corridor might stand a chance by focusing on connectivity, reliability, and convenience in place of speed.

Phoenix – Tucson Corridor Advances

In late June FRA approved the Arizona Department of Transportation’s preliminary plan for passenger rail service in the Phoenix – Tucson corridor. The approval allows ADOT to move on to the next phases of development which include environmental studies and early engineering work.

The line would run between Buckeye, a suburb west of Phoenix, and Tucson, a distance of approximately 160 miles. Amtrak would operate the service, which include limited stop intercity runs with a top speed of 125 mph and local commuter trains that could hit 100 mph. Published reports say trains could be running as early 2030. Given that no funding has been allocated to establishing the service that date is overly optimistic, IMHO.

So far ADOT has only received $500,000 through the FRA Corridor Identification and Development program. In addition, Gov. Katie Hobbs previously committed $3.5 million to the project. Policymakers need to identify potential funding opportunities for project implementation, which includes design, right-of-way cost, and construction.

The preliminary plan calls for restoring Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, which runs between New Orleans and Los Angeles, to its original route via Phoenix. Amtrak trains stopped running to Phoenix when Union Pacific closed its line between Phoenix and Yuma in 1996. Phoenix is the largest U.S. city not served by Amtrak. The nearest station is in Maricopa, approximately 40 miles to the south.

The territory the trains would serve is home to 88 percent of Arizona’s population and has been experiencing explosive growth for decades. The Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler MSA has 5.2 million residents as of 2024 and the Tucson MSA’s population was almost 1.1 million.

The next step for ADOT is to produce a service development plan. This will include number and location of stations, necessary infrastructure improvements, and revenue and ridership forecasts.. That phase has a $10.6 million budget but won’t begin until the feds award another grant. After the service development plan is complete the next step is preliminary engineering and environmental analysis.

Given the size and rapid growth in the Phoenix – Tucson area this corridor proposal hold promise. It is likely to become a successful route with ridership comparable to California’s Pacific Surfliner and Capital Corridors. Of course, that hinges upon securing funding to build in a political climate where nothing seems certain.