Departure Times Revealed for Renewed Gulf Coast Amtrak Service

The last passenger rail service available to Amtrak customers between New Orleans, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama was in 2005. It was August of 2005 when that service was interrupted by the landfall of Hurricane Katrina. The passenger trains have not run on those rails since the hurricane. 

That might soon be about to change as we have learned that Amtrak officials have made public proposed departure times for trains that will be running along the re-established Gulf Coast route. The departure times were made public during a public filing made by Amtrak with the City of Mobile, Alabama.  

When Will Gulf Coast Passenger Rail Service Begin? 

That is a question that not only fans of rail travel have been asking for years but members of the Southern Rail Commission have been asking as well. At a recent hearing with that commission members of that body reprimanded both Amtrak and city leaders in Mobile for dragging their feet on making final decisions on where and when a temporary train station in Mobile would be completed. 

Based on a filing with the Mobile Zoning Commission made earlier this week we do know that Amtrak has requested a special exception to the city of Mobile’s zoning regulations. If approved in a May 6th meeting, this could allow progress to begin building that temporary station and platform on Water Street near Cooper Riverside Park. 

In that filing Amtrak indicated that it planned to have trains leaving Mobile at 6:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Arriving trains would be in the station in Mobile at 11:18 a.m. and 9:14 p.m. This plan would be consistent with Amtrak’s stated plan of running a morning train and an afternoon train between Mobile and New Orleans. 

Before you attempt to book a ticket, you should know that these times are tentative, and will likely change but not by much before being finalized. And there are still even more hurdles the plan will have to endure, including approval by the Mobile City Council, before you will hear the conductor’s bellowing “All Aboard”. 

How Much Will a Ticket on Amtrak Cost Between NOLA and Mobile? 

Ticket and fare pricing for the route or partial route to one of the four planned stops along the Mississippi Gulf Coast has not been published. In fact, they have even been finalized. An Amtrak spokesperson said that decisions such as pricing for passage are still up in the air. Those details should be finalized well before the first trains are scheduled to run later this year. 

Meanwhile, Amtrak has been conducting training and testing runs over the tracks between New Orleans and Mobile. The training runs not only allow the train crews to get familiar with the route but to allow residents along the route to plan for trains as well. As we mentioned passenger trains have run on those tracks in almost 20 years, so motorists need to get used to when and where the trains will cross the roads and highways along the way.