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But funding denied for New Orleans-Baton Rouge service
The return of passenger rail service along the Gulf Coast from New Orleans moved one step closer to reality Thursday when the Federal Railroad Administration authorized a $178 million grant to improve the tracks and build a new platform in Mobile, Alabama.
The announcement means the service, which has been suspended since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, could resume as early as the first quarter of 2024. At a meeting in New Orleans earlier this year, officials with the Southern Rail Commission, which is spearheading efforts to restore the service, said grant approval was the final hurdle the longstanding project needed to clear.
“It’s a big win,” said John Spain, a Baton Rouge-based commissioner. “The Southern Rail Commission is delighted, as are our partners in Alabama and Mississippi.”
No grant for Baton Rouge
Another local rail project did not fare so well. The federal agency denied a $108 million grant application for the proposed proposed New Orleans-Baton Rouge passenger rail line, U.S. Rep. Garrett Graves, R-Baton Rouge confirmed. That money would have paid to replace the old wooden trestle across part of the Bonnet Carre Spillway, where trains now must slow to 10 mph....
The railroad through Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, could carry passenger trains between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.
STAFF FILE PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD