Amtrak New Gulf Coast Service - New Orleans to Mobile AL

[The EGE]

Amtrak seems to only use "Service" for routes (or groups of routes) with more than one daily round trip: Keystone Service, Wolverine Service, Hiawatha Service, Lincoln Service, Silver Service.

[David Benton]

With an allowance for delay , and a quick clean , the CONO could leave NO by 5.30 p.m- 6p.m , arrive mobile 8.30 -9.00 p.m p.m ? No time for a return trip that nite, would they want the coach consist away from the major service center overnite???

[ExCon90]

Amtrak seems to only use "Service" for routes (or groups of routes) with more than one daily round trip: Keystone Service, Wolverine Service, Hiawatha Service, Lincoln Service, Silver Service.

I think that's as it should be. For a corridor length of a few hundred miles one train a day (was "one-a-day" Col. Perkowski's phrase?) can't be considered a service.

[Tadman]

Tell you what would make sense in this new train - service to MSY airport in New Orleans. They just built a new terminal, and there are lots of tracks near the airfield. There are commercial airports in Mobile and Pascagoula, but the flights are expensive and infrequent. The same would make sense for a corridor train to Baton Rouge or Lafayette.

Unfortunately the City of NO rides right past the airport, but the Crescent's NS line goes nowhere near, and neither does the Sunset. That would mean anything on those routes would have to back into NOUPT then travel to the airport, then return to NOUPT for service at the yard nearby.

[east point]

Unfortunately the City of NO rides right past the airport, but the Crescent's NS line goes nowhere near, and neither does the Sunset. That would mean anything on those routes would have to back into NOUPT then travel to the airport, then return to NOUPT for service at the yard nearby.

BTR >? NOL service could go right by the airport MSY

[Backshophoss]

The "Gulf Coaster" is planned to be the home of the Horizon fleet after release from the "midwest services" in Chicago.
If "ended" in Mobile,will require contract coach cleaners(Merry Maid),along with contract Mech and fueling,unless it's a same day return to NOL.
Streaching to Jacksonville will require 2 sets of Equipment.
There also seems to be a need of INTRA-Florida service as well heading south along with the silver service trains
IS there enough demand for multiple trips to the gulf coast casinos?

[Hawaiitiki]

Tell you what would make sense in this new train - service to MSY airport in New Orleans. They just built a new terminal, and there are lots of tracks near the airfield. There are commercial airports in Mobile and Pascagoula, but the flights are expensive and infrequent. The same would make sense for a corridor train to Baton Rouge or Lafayette.

Unfortunately the City of NO rides right past the airport, but the Crescent's NS line goes nowhere near, and neither does the Sunset. That would mean anything on those routes would have to back into NOUPT then travel to the airport, then return to NOUPT for service at the yard nearby.

Unfortunately the new terminal just moved to the opposite side of the airport as far away as possible from active rail tracks. No shot that they'd build a station and a people mover for 1 - 2 trains a day. That being said, add in half-hourly airport rail shuttle from New Orleans Terminal, then you're talking...

[Tadman]

You know what would be really useful - a higher speed streetcar (relative to the Canal cars) that runs downtown from the airport. Ever try to get downtown on Thursday or Friday afternoon? Woof... Uber is so busy that their rates are usually higher than walk-up rates at the airport limo companies, and the limo drivers know the back roads when the Uber drivers don't. If you bushwhack it down Airline and then Earheart, it can save a lot of time.

A thrice-hourly 300-person interurban-like transit would be a boon to traffic problems. A stop in Kenner, a stop in Metairie, and either run downtown on the former IC alignment or NOPB would both get lots of people near hotels.

[mtuandrew]

Was just thinking that. You might need to make it DMU for ease of construction, but I’d prefer seeing something that looked like a heritage interurban, used overhead 750 or 1500 VDC, and ran on the existing system from the French Quarter to NOUPT with private ROW west of there.

Alternatively, you could just use this Gulf Coast Service and back up to the airport (or go to the airport from Mobile then back into NOUPT.) Use the trainset as a NOUPT-airport shuttle a few times a day when it isn’t running to Mobile.

[Jeff Smith]

Mobile resistance: MiamiHerald.com

Mobile to study fares, ridership if Amtrak returns to city

The Mobile City Council is delaying a proposal that endorsed the return of passenger rail service to the Gulf Coast through Mobile.
...
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson expressed concern about passenger trains potentially blocking access to the city's cruise-ship terminal.

Councilman Joel Daves also questioned Amtrak ridership interest in Mobile.

"I want to be absolutely clear, I am not opposed to the return of passenger rail service," Daves said. "I think it's too early to move ahead with respect to this resolution asking the governor to move forward. There are too many unanswered questions."
...

[mtuandrew]

Shouldn’t direct access to your cruise terminal from the train be a plus, not a minus?

[eolesen]

How long or often do they think a train will be blocking the crossing?... and how often are the cruise ships going to be there at the same time as a station call?

[Tadman]

Something is up here. There is a big upside for Mobile with passenger service. Feed more cruise passengers to town. Connect to somewhere other than Birmingham. Generate online traffic for Fairhope, across the bay.

Mobile gets a bad rap as backwater, as does Alabama. But Fairhope, across the bay, is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. It's very nice. There is a big Airbus facility nearby and this is where all the engineers and managers live. There is also a steel mill nearby (I think). There is also quite a few shipyards in both Mobile and Pascagoula. Finally, the shellfish in Mobile is some of my favorite in the world. There is no better afternoon than posting up with a few cold ones at Ed's and destroying a giant platter of oysters and royal red shrimp.

I don't know if someone isn't playing ball with the right politicians or what, but leaving Mobile out would be a bad deal for the train and the city.

Also, if you're around town and need to feed your hobby, the container port and northerly industrial appendages are full of trains. BN has a ferry to Mexico here. Also, both SOU and GM&O stations are still standing. One is doctor's office, one is empty I think. I'm not advocating for a 2x train to use these big buildings, but they are there.

[gokeefe]

From what I saw previously the Port officials were not happy and had freight concerns. It's much easier to pit passengers from one mode against passengers of another. No one in the traveling public wants to be told that shipping containers should take priority over people.

[Jeff Smith]

George has a good point; time is money, especially to shippers. But is the number of frequencies really high enough that it matters?

On another note, Tad's post reminded me that at one time, a few years ago, AL or Amtrak were looking at a branch from B'Ham down to Mobile. I can't remember what it was called and I'm too lazy to look right now.