Rail passengers can soon buy tickets to ride Amtrak between Mobile and New Orleans. The service announced the resumption of travel between the two cities for the first time since Hurricane Katrina halted Amtrak’s route along the Alabama Gulf coast back in August of 2005. The APR news team has been covering the negotiations to resume rail service between the two port cities.
Amtrak today announced what it’s calling the “Amtrak Mardi Gras Service,” featuring twice daily trips between Mobile and New Orleans starting this summer. Trains will run along the coast with stops in Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay Saint Louis.
“Amtrak Mardi Gras Service is a natural choice for the name of the new trains that will reflect the region’s distinctive culture,” said Amtrak President Roger Harris in a news release. “Travel should be about more than just getting somewhere. Our goal is to have some of that festive Mardi Gras feeling on every trip, sharing the culture of the Gulf Coast region while connecting with the rest of the Amtrak network.”
Beyond travel to and from New Orleans and Mobile, Amtrak says passengers can make same day connections in both directions daily to the City of New Orleans trains between New Orleans and Chicago via Memphis. This particular rail line was immortalized in song by Arlo Guthrie, the son of folk music legend Woody Guthrie. Ticketholders on the Amtrak Mardi Gras Service can also connect to the rail line’s Crescent service to and from New York via Atlanta, and Amtrak Sunset Limited trains and from Los Angeles via Tucson, San Antonio and Houston.
Click below to listen again to Alabama Public Radio’s coverage of work to restore Amtrak Service along the Gulf coast.
