MOBILE, Ala. — Members of the Mobile City Council remained focused on its potential funding obligation to support Amtrak Gulf Coast service at a Monday meeting with Amtrak representatives, WKRG-TV reports.
Representatives of the passenger operator, as well as CSX, the Southern Rail Commission, and the Federal Railroad Administration were on hand for a meeting of the council’s Economic, Cultural and Civic Development Committee — the first time Amtrak has been before the council in more than for years, AL.com reports. The meeting saw committee members express concern over a city commitment to provide over $3 million in operating funding for the Mobile-New Orleans trains over the first three years of operation, and the potential ongoing commitment after that period. The states of Louisiana and Mississippi have pledged to back the train under Amtrak’s state-supported operating provisions, but Alabama has left Mobile responsible for its own funding.
WALA-TV reports that Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson has raised the possibility of again approaching the state for some funding, noting the $72 million in infrastructure upgrades in the state that will result from the service. That will benefit the state, and the Port of Mobile, even if the passenger train does not last, he said.
“You’ve got this huge economic development opportunity that’s gonna happen from the port. … That’s a game changer,” Stimpson said, according to WALA. “And so, we now recognize that possibility.”
Mobile’s council agreed to support the service by a 6-1 vote in February 2020, but just three of the council members at that time remain, including the only person who voted against the deal, Councilman Joel Davis. At least two other members have expressed concerns over city funding, AL.com reports; five votes will be required to once again approve support. A new agreement is required given the amount of time it has taken to get the service into operation.
No vote was expected at the meeting, either on an agreement or on approval of the lease of city-owned land for the Mobile station site, and none was taken. Mobile’s zoning board approved an exemption for the temporary station platform and parking-lot improvements earlier this month [see “Mobile, Ala., board approves zoning exception …,” Trains News Wire, May 6, 2024].
Ray Lang, Amtrak vice president, state supported services, told WKRG that the meeting provided “a very robust discussion and probably went on longer than anybody anticipated. It’s my understanding that we’re very close [to finalizing a lease]. I anticipated some more discussion about that today, but the council took a different direction.”
The slow-moving negotiations in Mobile are preventing any action on infrastructure improvements for the Mobile-New Orleans route. While a $178 million CRISI (Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements) grant has been awarded for those improvements, that money does not become available until all agreements for the service are completed, including the agreement with Mobile. “Until the contract is executed for service,” Lang said, “there’s no investment.”
Amtrak, host railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern, and the Port of Mobile reached an agreement to allow the start of Gulf Coast service in November 2022, averting a possible Surface Transportation Board ruling imposing terms [see “Amtrak, freight railroads say they have a deal …,” News Wire, Nov. 22, 2022]. Details remain confidential, but the lack of progress in starting service — which Amtrak once said would begin in 2023 — led the STB to hold a hearing on the matter in February.
Lease discussions with Mobile began in March 2022; a status report to the STB in March of this year said Amtrak was hopeful of a vote on both the lease and funding agreement “in April or May 2024” [see “Gulf Coast impasse at Mobile remains unresolved …,” News Wire, March 18, 2024]. That now appears likely to join a long list of missed targets since Amtrak unilaterally announced in 2021 that it intended to start the service the following year [see “Amtrak seeks to start New Orleans-Mobile service in 2022,” News Wire, Feb. 26, 2021].
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