Mississippi’s part of a multistate effort to establish Amtrak passenger rail service between Dallas and Meridian could begin next year in the form of a feasibility study.
That review is expected to look at Vicksburg as a possible site for a train station, according to the head of a key regional commission looking to restore rail service in the Southeast.
“Logically, it would be Vicksburg, Jackson and Meridian as stations,” said Knox Ross, mayor of Pelahatchie and chairman of the Southern Rail Commission, a panel composed of officials from Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. “Vicksburg is the hub of west Mississippi and east Louisiana and there’s some population centers that would support it. But, you don’t want too many stations because it hurts the speed so much.”
Ross expects a study to cost $250,000 and begin next year, depending how quickly the state can find a funding mechanism. The review would determine the condition of existing track between cities, potential stops, hours of operation and the cost to operate the service. The Dallas/Forth Worth-Meridian route has 538 miles of track, of which 141 are in Mississippi.
Currently, Amtrak service in Texas turns north at Marshall and continues into Arkansas on its way to St. Louis and Chicago. Passengers heading east are taken by shuttle bus to Shreveport from Marshall. A study by a coalition of local governments in north Louisiana began in July and will look at the Shreveport-to-Vicksburg leg of the new route.
Union Station in downtown Jackson serves as a hub for train passengers, Greyhound Lines buses or the capital city’s transit buses. Ten Amtrak stations are in Mississippi to serve two daily passenger trains, the City of New Orleans between the Crescent City and Chicago, and the Crescent, which runs between New Orleans and New York via Atlanta.
Ross’ commission awaits word from the federal Department of Transportation on $1 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grant money to restart the Sunset Limited line between New Orleans and Orlando. The line was discontinued after Hurricane Katrina.
That application is pending and serves as something of a pivot-point for enhancing passenger rail in the region, Ross said, adding the funding is vital if the state wants to assert itself as a viable player in the transportation picture in the Southeast.
“We’ve started these efforts because Mississippi was this great, big hole in the middle of a lot of activity,” Ross said. “We don’t want to be the flyover or pass-through place for everybody on the way to somewhere else.”
Gov. Phil Bryant supports the endeavor to link Dallas and Meridian by passenger rail, Ross said, adding some form of grant program via the Mississippi Development Authority is a most likely vehicle to help pay for the study.
The state transportation department itself supports the process in principle, but funds aren’t likely through its own coffers.
“We’re plugged into, we’re in discussion with our partners in Louisiana and met with Amtrak,” MDOT Central District Commissioner Dick Hall said. “We’re extremely interested, but we have no money for a study.”
Both men expect the topic to come up at the next SRC meeting, set for September in Birmingham.
Mississippi has 2,600 miles of rail track operated by five Class I and 27 regional or local rail carriers, according to a 2011 study by MDOT that examined the state’s rail capabilities. In it, the agency noted service between Meridian and Fort Worth “would add significant new markets to the Crescent” and singles out Vicksburg as an attractive place for a station due to being “a major river port and leisure destination with five casinos and a rich history.”
The study urged cooperation with Louisiana and Texas to maximize ridership and stressed capital improvements to the tracks between Dallas and Meridian must be coordinated between the state, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and Kansas City Southern railways. The latter has a lease with Warren County to run trains across the Mississippi River, via the old U.S. 80 bridge.