Republicans embrace Amtrak’s Gulf Coast rebirth

In the Donald Trump era, even red-state Republicans are cheering Amtrak's efforts to restart the Gulf Coast passenger train line that Hurricane Katrina wiped out.

By LAUREN GARDNER
01/01/2017 07:51 AM EST

MOBILE, Ala. — A decade after Hurricane Katrina wiped out a long stretch of Amtrak's transcontinental passenger route in the Deep South, the railroad is plotting to bring it back. And it’s attracted a seemingly unlikely group of cheerleaders: red-state Republicans.

“I think the more that we show that we can run a safe, financially responsible railroad, the more likely it is that people of both political parties will be supportive of it,” Amtrak board Chairman Anthony Coscia said.

The most immediate task: prove that Gulf Coast service can be cost-effective.

CSX, the private freight carrier that owns most of the track Amtrak would use, said in August that it needs $2 billion in upgrades to sustain passenger service, although sources close to the effort have privately called the figure vastly inflated.

Then, assuming it can get the line running, Amtrak will have to justify its existence almost immediately: The railroad already anticipates it won't be able to cover the nearly $10 million it would cost yearly to run that service plus an accompanying New Orleans-to-Atmore, Ala., route that Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama would have to help subsidize.

The Gulf Coast Working Group, which Congress created in 2015 to study restarting the Amtrak service, is trying to identify funding sources outside the federal government, such as state and local governments and tourist attractions that could benefit from the train service. A report outlining those options is expected by spring 2017.

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