Business

Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009

TRAIN IN VAIN

Amtrak recently offered Congress three options to return to passenger rail service to South Mississippi for the first time since Hurricane Katrina, but the government would have to approve funding for the plans, all of which have projected annual revenue losses.

There were several different train lines along the Coast over the years. In 1993, Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, which had run between Los Angeles and New Orleans, was extended east to Jacksonville, Orlando and originally Miami. Hurricane Katrina caused heavy damage to the tracks between New Orleans and Mobile and Amtrak decided not to return the Sunset Limited to the area because of the high costs for the repairs and other obstacles.

Passenger trains could run through South Mississippi again because Congress passed the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008, which charged Amtrak with devising a plan to strengthen the nation’s passenger rail system and also restore service from New Orleans to Sanford, Fla. Amtrak’s study has been delivered to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, as well as officials in the affected states.

“We’ve delivered the report to Congress and met the Congressional deadline and we’ll await further direction,” said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari.

Magliari said Amtrak is waiting on Congress and the states to decide whether they want to fund any of the plans. If approved, trains may not roll through South Mississippi for another two to four years.

There could be some economic benefit to the region should the plan be adopted, Amtrak says, including about $11.3 million in station and facility upgrades and between 32 and 122 permanent Amtrak jobs, depending upon which option is chosen. Some construction, manufacturing and material supply positions could also result, according to the report.

Struggles

There were several different rail lines that ran through the area long ago. Before 1971, two railroads operated the Gulf Wind between New Orleans and Jacksonville.

There was no service between New Orleans and Jacksonville between 1971 and 1984. The states of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana supported the Gulf Coast Limited, which ran from April 1984 until January 1985, but money ran out for the route, which was designed to fuel attendance at the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition. Other variations ran from 1993 until August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina heavily damaged the railroads.