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South Alabama Passenger Rail Service Generates Little Interest At Public Meeting
May 1, 2019
A public meeting about the possible return of passenger rail service from Mobile to Montgomery generated little public interest Tuesday night in Atmore.
No one from the general public attended the first half hour of the meeting hosted by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs at the Atmore City Hall.
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.
A similar meeting held about the project last November in Atmore was attended by a few dozen people. Years ago, Atmore was designated by the state legislature as Alabama’s official rail welcome station.
Pictured above and below: No member of the general public attended the opening of a public meeting on a Mobile to Montgomery passenger rail service meeting in Atmore Tuesday evening. Pictured bottom: A proposed route from the service. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
9 Responses to “South Alabama Passenger Rail Service Generates Little Interest At Public Meeting”
Pray tell why would you want the Sunset Limited to return? Nobody rode it when it was running, which is why they shut it down. Amtrak would be cheaper off to operate what we could call the nostalgia line. They could bring a train into an area, and let the train buffs have a free ride. Then move on to the next city. It would be lots cheaper than operating a bunch of losing routes for the train buffs. But wait, Dollywood is already operating such a train (and making money on it).
Would likely be cheaper, more comfortable and faster to fly from Mobile to Montgomery, even with a four hour lay over in Atlanta.
Amtrak is a big federal money pit that gobbles up tax dollars by the billions. This meeting probably generated more interest than the train would if it were running. Instead of looking at adding more money gobbling routes, Amtrak should be looking at shutting down more routes that are already losing money. If passenger trains were financially feasible, don’t you think CSX would already be running them?
How are these meetings publicized? I never hear about them until after they have already been held!
I never heard about the hospital ones either until after the were held.
I did not know about the meeting.
Wondering how long it takes to ride the train from Mobile to Montgomery?
Wondering how much it would cost for a one-way ticket or a round-trip ticket?
Would this train run each day?
Didn’t know anything about this meeting. Was it publicized? As usual things for Atmore aren’t made very public until after the fact. How else will you get support if no one knows about it?
I would be interested but I didn’t know anything about it, so they obviously didn’t advertise the meeting much
It’s sad that no one turned out when there was so much interest a few years ago in 2016 when they ran the ” invitation-only train” through Atmore and Pensacola for the interest and support of the Sunset Limited to return. This would at least be a good start in the right direction. I hope people haven’t given up.