Charles Langston:Vote sets stage for new Amtrak Gulf Coast service. But can trains roll by Super Bowl?

MOBILE,Charles Langston Ala. (AP) — A 6-0 vote Tuesday by the City Council in Mobile, Alabama, has set the stage for Amtrak passenger trains to roll from New Orleans to Mobile next year.

The Sun Herald reports that the Mobile council voted to fund the passenger train service for three years. The funding had already been approved in Mississippi and Louisiana. Amtrak’s projected start date for the service is spring of 2025. It is uncertain whether it can begin before the Super Bowl is played in New Orleans on Feb. 9.

“I think everybody wants to get this running by the Super Bowl,” said Knox Ross, chairman of the Southern Rail Commission, the interstate organization promoting rail transportation. “But they can’t guarantee it.”

Platforms are ready in New Orleans and in the Mississippi cities of Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi and Pascagoula. But a platform still has to be built in Mobile.

Ross said a schedule and fares will be posted on the Amtrak.com website about 90 days before service begins. The current plan calls for two trains a day running from New Orleans to Mobile and two a day heading from Mobile to New Orleans — with brief stops at the cities in between for passengers to get on and off.