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Study Underway On Return Of Passenger Rail Service Mobile To Montgomery
November 15, 2018
A study is underway into the feasibility of the return of passenger rail service from Mobile to Montgomery.
The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs held a public information meeting on the study Wednesday night in Atmore, which was designated by the Legislature as Alabama’s official rail welcome station.
The study into the return of service to the former “Gulf Breeze” passenger corridor is being completed in two phases. Phase I, completed and submitted to the Federal Rail Administration in 2014, included rail service between Birmingham and Montgomery. Phase II, the current study, pertains to rail service between Mobile and Montgomery and is set to be submitted in the fall of 2019.
The purpose of the study is to assess the feasibility of passenger rail service between Montgomery and Mobile, and to determine the necessary elements needed to implement the system. The study will also consider the combined effects of restoring passenger rail service along the corridor, with rail connections to existing and proposed east-west Amtrak lines in Birmingham and Mobile.
Rail travel supports a long range goal of reducing congestion on the road network.
The public is invited to take a survey on potential passenger rail service between Mobile and Montgomery by clicking here, and email comments to Kathleen.rasmussen@adeca.alabama.gov by a January 4, 2019, deadline.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
5 Responses to “Study Underway On Return Of Passenger Rail Service Mobile To Montgomery”
If you’ve been to Europe, it’s easy to see that this could work, if done right. One or two lines would probably not cut it. But if there are lines that go beyond Montgomery, say, up to Birmingham, to Huntsville, Gatlinburg, Asheville, and Atlanta…and you might have a winner. A lot of people from here frequent the mountains as a getaway, and the Appalachain folks frequent the beaches here. There’ll need to be feeder lines to smaller towns, like Pensacola, Tallahassee, Oxford AL (for trips to Cheaha State Park), Tuscaloosa, Auburn, etc…just keep that price down. Make it an alternative to driving that is cost effective and it’ll be a hit.
Disney World and Japan have been doing high speed trains for decades.
Slow Amtrak on old rails isn’t progress.
Why don’t they go and study British Railways and see how railroads could be used to get our cars off the interstates? Americans are too hung up on using cars, thanks to the big 3. Am Track is way too expensive and proud of it.
Trains are slower than planes, more expensive than busses, less convenient than cars, and less comfortable than all.
Passenger trains had their time, but there is a reason they are dying out.
Stop living in the past.
It won’t fly unless it provides local service. That would require more stops, more people hired. More expense that the railroad does ot want. Plus it would mean they would stop more trains and block more traffic which is a pain already.