WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has set details for its upcoming hearing on Amtrak’s effort to launch passenger service on the Gulf Coast. The initial phase, public comments, is set for Feb. 15, with the hearing on Amtrak’s request to begin on March 9.
Public comment will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 15. It will be followed — either later that day, or at 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 16, depending on the length of the public-comment process — by a pre-evidentiary hearing. Both days’ proceedings will be online only, held via Zoom and available for viewing on YouTube. Those wishing to participate in the public comment section must file a notice of intent with the Board by Feb. 7.
The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. on March 9 and continue March 10 if necessary. The hearing will be open to the public, but the board has yet to decide if it will be held online, in person, or in a hybrid format.
The STB announcement of hearing details, including details involved in a request to participate in the public comment portion of the proceeding, is available here. The board decision behind that announcement is available here.
Amtrak filed its request with the board for an order allowing it to operate trains between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., over the tracks of CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern, on March 16, 2021 [see “Amtrak asks STB to require CSX, NS to allow Gulf Coast service,” Trains News Wire, March 16, 2021]. The railroads filed their presentation of opening evidence in November [see “CSX, NS say Gulf Coast passenger service would ‘devastate’ freight operations,” News Wire, Nov. 4, 2021].
One train each way each day would “devastate” freight service? Seems a bit extreme.
Now that the cat is out of the bag on the new Port of Mobile rail service plans, maybe some “real” data can get into the hearings instead of a lot of hot air.