Construction problems at the eastern end of Amtrak's awaited service between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, have delayed the start of the twice-daily train.
Officials are hopeful it will be able to launch by late July or early August.
The train service, which Amtrak has dubbed the Mardi Gras, was supposed to debut later this month.
Southern Rail Commission Chairman Knox Ross told our partners at NOLA.com that a new start date could be announced in the coming weeks.
"The dates have always been sort of fluid," he said. "In Mobile, you're dealing with a several hundred year old city, and you never know what you're going to pick up."
Damage caused by Hurricane Katrina almost twenty years ago led to the demolition of the L&N train station in downtown Mobile. The city is building a new train depot near that location to accommodate the new rail link.
When it launches, the Amtrak Mardi Gras will be the first regular rail service on the Gulf coast east of New Orleans in decades.
Prior to Katrina, Amtrak's Sunset Limited would travel the southern U.S. from Florida to California. Now the coast-to-coast train's eastern terminus is the Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans.
In the mid-1990s, Amtrak operated the Gulf Coast Limited between New Orleans and Mobile. While ridership grew each week, the Limited ended before it was even a year old.
Southern Rail Commission officials said the Limited's spotty schedule and once-per-day departure likely hindered its popularity. But the Mardi Gras' scheduled twice-daily service that will include stops in Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula should be more successful, officials said.
Related
