NOL-MOB service

[frequentflyer]

https://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2018/06/we_need_governors_signature_am.html

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey must decide by Wednesday whether the state will make a $5.3 million commitment over three years to bring Amtrak service back to Mobile, connecting the city with New Orleans.

Rail advocates who are pushing for the return of Gulf Coast passenger rail say that Ivey has yet to meet with them and frustrations are mounting.

 

[PaulM]

Well I now have a new item on my punch list before I die: visit my home town.

 

[cpotisch]

Wasn't there some talk of this as part of the Crescent Star?

 

[me_little_me]

She has a tough choice. Spend it on train travel or provide a new, enlarged, domed, football stadium for one of the local high schools that feeds athletes to UA. We know which one will win out in the end.

 

[jis]

Wasn't there some talk of this as part of the Crescent Star?

Crescent Star? That proposal was for a section of the Crescent to run from Meridian MS to Dallas TX. Where would Alabama come into the picture there?

This would be part of the NOL - JAX - ORL route, if that happens. I think there was a train at one time called the Gulf Wind along that route run jointly by L&N and SAL/SCL, before Amtrak ran the Sunset East on that route for a bit.

There was a section of the Crescent named the Gulf Breeze that Amtrak operated between Birmingham AL and Mobile AL for a while.

 

[cpotisch]

Wasn't there some talk of this as part of the Crescent Star?

Crescent Star? That proposal was for a section of the Crescent to run from Meridian MS to Dallas TX. Where would Alabama come into the picture there?

This would be part of the NOL - JAX - ORL route, if that happens. I think there was a train at one time called the Gulf Wind along that route run jointly by L&N and SAL/SCL, before Amtrak ran the Sunset East on that route for a bit.

There was a section of the Crescent named the Gulf Breeze that Amtrak operated between Birmingham AL and Mobile AL for a while.

Thanks. I knew that the Crescent Star proposal was an MEI-FTW section of the Crescent, but I guess I got it confused with some other thing.

 

[AmtrakFlyer]

Chances are slim to none she will sign it. This is why corridors are so hard to set up. Same thing happened here in Iowa. Republican governors dont see the big picture in most cases.

 

[MikefromCrete]

Texas is known for building huge, expensive high school football stadiums, I didn't know that Alabama also does.

 

[AmtrakFlyer]

Its a no go. No big surprise. The south continues to vote against their best interests and continues to pay for it.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

She has a tough choice. Spend it on train travel or provide a new, enlarged, domed, football stadium for one of the local high schools that feeds athletes to UA. We know which one will win out in the end.

Domed high school stadium? Please be a joke. Please...

 

[west point]

You persons from other than the south do not realize how football crazy it is in Alabama & Georgia and to a lesser extent Florida. You should hear the football fans complain when a soccer field is built. anywhere in or around these states.

 

[Bob Dylan]

She has a tough choice. Spend it on train travel or provide a new, enlarged, domed, football stadium for one of the local high schools that feeds athletes to UA. We know which one will win out in the end.

Domed high school stadium? Please be a joke. Please...

You ought to see the Taj Mahals they build in Texas for the Feeders to the Universities!

 

[Pere Flyer]

She has a tough choice. Spend it on train travel or provide a new, enlarged, domed, football stadium for one of the local high schools that feeds athletes to UA. We know which one will win out in the end.

Domed high school stadium? Please be a joke. Please...

You ought to see the Taj Mahals they build in Texas for the Feeders to the Universities![emoji21]

Allen HS in the DFW metro has one, right? That school’s got more students than some small colleges…

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

In Texas right now. The shock factor is the dome not the super sized stadium. I guess that the way schools are going, no arts, no music, but we got a Dome Stadium for the football games. What the usage for a high school 12 games a year with 6 at home?

My central school district graduate 12 kids last years. 12 is about average. We have shop class, art, and sport teams.

However if your watching the soccer game your sitting on the hill side.

 

[DSS&A]

SRC update, no funding at this time.

http://www.southernrailcommission.org/news

 

[Chey]

It's too bad. Sports is not my priority but apparently it was of enough people, at least more people than wanted the train. Maybe when the price of gas goes through the roof again... I love trains a lot more than football - and more than I love driving! Someday... someday...

 

[cpotisch]

I'm sorry, but what do high school sports teams and stadiums have to do with NOL-MOB train service?

 

[MikefromCrete]

Since the Alabama governor has refused to authorize $5 million for the service, any NOL-MOB train is dead, so we might as well talk about football stadiums.

 

[Palmland]

It would have been nice to hear about Anderson making presentations to the Governor in Montgomery rather than the one about the SWC. If he is serious about wanting this route to happen, he should put some skin in the game.

 

[Skyline]

You persons from other than the south do not realize how football crazy it is in Alabama & Georgia and to a lesser extent Florida. You should hear the football fans complain when a soccer field is built. anywhere in or around these states.

Friday Night Lights. It's real! And the outrage about soccer is akin to the outrage in some locales about bike lanes on public streets.

 

[west point]

I'm sorry, but what do high school sports teams and stadiums have to do with NOL-MOB train service?

It all about priorities that the state of Alabama has. Money for football stadiums but not public transportation.

 

[neroden]

Alabama continues its backwardsness. This can't be called a surprise.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

She calls trains a 'luxury'. That's disappointing

 

[Thirdrail7]

She calls trains a 'luxury'. That's disappointing

But, not unexpected. To many, Amtrak, with its high prices is considered a luxury. It is considered a land cruise. Many do not see it as essential service or a viable transportation option.

The Amtrak identity crisis rages on.

 

[tricia]

She calls trains a 'luxury'. That's disappointing

But, not unexpected. To many, Amtrak, with its high prices is considered a luxury. It is considered a land cruise. Many do not see it as essential service or a viable transportation option.

The Amtrak identity crisis rages on.

Amtrak's coach prices seem to me very reasonable, compared to cost of driving. I've not made a comprehensive survey of every price for every section of every route, but when I've been booking travel for myself, coach prices usually seem a bargain. Sleeper prices are generally MUCH steeper.