Amtrak is coming to the MS Gulf Coast in 2022. Here’s what has to happen before then.
Four cities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast are getting new train platforms or repairs to the existing stations ahead of the return of passenger rail service in January.
“Amtrak recently dispatched a full team to assess the remaining work underway on stations along the Mobile to New Orleans route to ensure they are ready for passenger rail service to start in 2022,” David Handera, Amtrak vice president of stations and accessibility, said Friday during a meeting of the Southern Rail Commission.
“Amtrak will work with the cities on a phased approach to initially modify the existing platforms and complete all needed repairs in the path of travel,” he said.
Amtrak trains will stop in Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi and Pascagoula as they travel between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.
Stations are still standing in all but Biloxi, where a platform will be located north of the Coast Transit Authority building in the downtown.
The cities have already begun taking bids for the work. An announcement Friday from the Alice Moseley Folk Art & Antique Museum, which is housed in the station at Bay St. Louis, said it will be closed for a few weeks while construction is under way at the depot.
Amtrak agreements call for the repair of existing platforms in Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi and Mobile in phase one and install new platforms in phase two.
In Pascagoula, Amtrak would bring in a temporary platform in phase one and install a new platform in phase two.
In Mobile, the city plans to locate the rail station at the new Mobile airport at Brookley Field, but Southern Rail Commission said the city is awaiting the final results of a study of alternative sites before determining the final location.
Amtrak intends to pay for these repairs, according to Southern Rail Commission, subject to Federal Railroad Administration approval. Amtrak also will invest in constructing new accessible, well-lit, ADA complaint platforms in phase two, the commission said.
Funding has already been secured for the first three years of operation of the New Orleans to Mobile passenger train service, which Amtrak said should start in January.
The SRC has secured $66 million in federal grants and local matching funds for improvements to railroad infrastructure for passenger and freight service along the route.
This story was originally published March 5, 2021 at 2:36 PM.
