TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Tuscaloosa has abandoned efforts to place a new Amtrak station in the city’s Alberta area, citing a breakdown in negotiations with Norfolk Southern over the railroad’s safety concerns.
“In the final analysis, Norfolk Southern had concerns regarding sight distance at that site,” Mayor Walt Maddox told the Tuscaloosa News. “This made the project unfeasible. So, at this point, it puts us back to square one.”
The city is served by the New York-New Orleans Crescent, which currently stops about a mile south of downtown at a former Southern Railway station built in 1911.
City Councilman Kip Tyner, who represents Alberta as part of his district, said “Amtrak chose Alberta for their new location, but for various reasons, Norfolk came up with excuse after excuse to thwart the move. Our current station is disgraceful and the worst along the Crescent line by far.”
The city had allocated $1.5 million for a new station, and received a grant of more than $300,000 from the Southern Rail Commission for the facility in 2016. Maddox said the city would seek permission from the commission to divert those funds to upgrading the existing station.
