Passenger rail service from New Orleans to Mobile with stops in Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula will not happen in time for the Super Bowl.
Knox Ross of the Southern Rail Commission says they're not going to make that deadline. He says work to build a new passenger platform in Mobile is the reason.
"They are starting work on the platform there and that should be done hopefully by June, is the target," Ross told WWL's Ian Hoch on the Scoot on the Air show.
"We were hoping to be able to do that prior to, you know, with the Super Bowl and everything coming up, but it just wasn't feasible to get done," he said.
When the service does begin in June, Ross says the twice-daily trains running in each direction will open up new opportunities for tourism across the region, allowing people in New Orleans to plan easy day trips to the Gulf Coast's beaches and casinos, and allowing people staying on the Gulf Coast easy access to all New Orleans has to offer.