WASHINGTON — The parties in the dispute over Amtrak’s effort to launch Gulf Coast service have asked the Surface Transportation Board to extend the period for board-sponsored mediation by 30 days.
In a joint motion filed Wednesday, Aug. 24, by CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, Amtrak, and the Alabama State Port Authority, the parties say “an additional 30-day period of mediation would be productive as they seek to reach an amicable resolution of this matter.”
The original 30-day mediation period over Amtrak’s proposal for two daily round trips between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., is scheduled to expire today (Aug. 25).
The STB ordered 30 days of mediation in a June 10 decision, although it said at the time it “will not hold the underlying proceeding in abeyance” [see “STB grants Amtrak access …,” Trains News Wire, June 11, 2022]. Since that time, the board has extended the deadline for filing supplemental evidence from July 13 to July 27, and set Aug. 31 as the deadline to for the parties to respond to those supplemental evidence filings.
The board has yet to schedule the resumption of hearings on the Gulf Coast case after holding 11 days of sessions, most recently on May 12 [see “Oberman: Gulf coast litigants still need to fill in the blanks,” News Wire, May 13, 2022].
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