Amtrak’s first trains in 20 years delayed in South Mississippi
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Freight train interference delayed Amtrak's first eastbound run by an hour.
- Passengers received multiple delay alerts before boarding the New Orleans train.
- Some riders expressed support despite delays, citing scenic views and convenience.
It wasn’t the start envisioned for Amtrak’s first commercial runs east and west across the Mississippi Coast in 20 years, as issues put the new Mardi Gras trains late getting to New Orleans and Mobile on Monday.
The morning train left New Orleans, bound for Mobile, with four stops in Mississippi. It was supposed to leave Biloxi at 9:57 a.m., but instead of boarding the train, passengers got a message on their cell phones from Amtrak that the train was delayed by freight traffic.
The advisory didn’t say it also was delayed by an “errant trucker” with a high-centered 18-wheeler who got hung up on the tracks at Pratt Avenue in Gulfport, despite a warning not to cross. That was about 7:45 a.m. and it took about 45 minutes to tow the truck off the crossing, which is east of U.S. 49 and downtown.
The stuck truck held up both trains.
The eastbound train to Mobile arrived 26 minutes late, according to Amtrak, and the westbound train pulled into to New Orleans 46 minutes behind schedule.
The train from Mobile left the station on time, said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari., but then met with freight train interefence in Mobile. “That delayed us 16 to 17 minutes,” he said.
The trains traveling east and west originally were to pass each other around Bay St. Louis, said Knox Ross, chairman of the Southern Rail Commission.
Two improvements are on the way to help the trains stay on schedule, Magliara said.
The dispatchers will become more accustomed to working with Amtrak, he said, and $238 million in capital improvements will provide more places for trains to get around each other.
Passengers waiting on the covered platform in Biloxi, with a breeze keeping the 90-plus degree day more bearable, spotted a light down the track, then heard the whistle and waved to the passengers in the train when it pulled in at 10:41. Five minutes later, it was on the way to Pascagoula.
“If you travel Amtrak you have to be prepared,” said Cyndi Batz, of Ocean Springs, who traveled across the country and back with her kids years ago in an Amtrak family car and called it “the best trip ever.”
“I have taken a lot of Amtrak trips. I would not miss this opportunity to be on the first train,” she said.
Her son wanted to fly down from his home in New York, she said. “Just to take the train.”
The morning’s westbound train from Mobile to New Orleans was running nearly on time, said David Cates of Biloxi, a train buff who was at the Amtrak platform to see that first train running west from Mobile to New Orleans.
The train from New Orleans to Biloxi is something Meredith McDermott said she will ride frequently. She enjoyed the views of water and trees, she said. The delayed arrival, though, set her schedule back. “That was not ideal because I work over here,” she said. She has a house in New Orleans and works as an attorney at Vieux Marche, a short walk from the Amtrak platform.
The traveling Monday didn’t get the same Mardi Gras Line welcome as the celebration train that traveled Saturday from New Orleans to Mobile with invited guests onboard.
Molly Shea, who works for Coast Transit Authority, met the passengers getting off Monday in Biloxi. She was on Saturday’s VIP train and said it was “So much more beautiful than I could have imagined.”
At one spot, she said, where the train tracks cross the bay, “You feel like you’re floating over the water,” she said. There is something magical how all our communities are being connected by Amtrak’s new Mardi Gras Line, she said.
This story was originally published August 18, 2025 at 11:51 AM.
