Business

Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009

Proposed rail service

The three Amtrak Gulf Coast proposals would have all trains making stops at four South Mississippi stations — Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi and Pascagoula — in the morning and heading west into New Orleans. In the evening, a train would leave New Orleans and stop at the same four stations. The hours vary between the three proposals and all don’t include a daily train.

Amtrak says the following three choices were the most feasible out of a study that evaluated 12 plans:

n Resume the tri-weekly Sunset Limited service from Los Angeles to Orlando. This would restore the pre-Katrina train service east of New Orleans and link the South to the West by rail. Amtrak says as many as 53,300 might use the route each year. The report projects about $33 million startup costs for the plan, the lowest of the three options. The report also forecasts annual operating losses of $4.8 million, which is the lowest of the three plans.

n Extend daily City of New Orleans service from the Crescent City to Orlando, which could have startup costs between $58 million and $97 million. Amtrak projects this option to have the most riders — an estimated 96,100 annually — because the train, which stops in Chicago, would reconnect the Midwest to Florida by rail, but it has a projected annual revenue loss of $11.7 million.

n Daily service between New Orleans and Orlando, which has the highest estimated shortfalls, which are projected at $18.4 million annually. Amtrak said about 79,900 may use the route each year, which like option two, also has an estimated startup costs of between $58 million and $97 million.