Amtrak moving to Mobile may be in jeopardy

The drive to bring Amtrak to Mobile is in serious jeopardy.

The plan needs five votes on the city council, and right now those votes aren’t there.

Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s administration is close to finalizing a lease that would allow Amtrak to build a train platform between the convention center and the Maritime Museum. The proposed line between Mobile and New Orleans would feature four stops in Mississippi.

Making the platform would require millions of dollars a year in taxpayer funds. State governments are putting up that money in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Until recently, the City of Mobile was expected to put up all of the Alabama subsidy.

Councilman Josh Woods says he appreciates last week’s vote by the Alabama Port Authority to contribute $1 million of the roughly $3 million cost. He also recognizes a pledge from Governor Kay Ivey’s office to explore additional funding.

He says his bigger concern is what happens after those first three years, when a federal operating subsidy will be less.

“At the moment, I am a ‘no’ vote. Still, obviously hearing concerns. But, you know, there are pro-Amtrak comments that I’ve been hearing,” said Councilman Woods. “But I’d also tell you some of my constituents the vast majority of my constituents are kind of opposed to the city subsidizing a federal Amtrak program.”

* Editorial information provided by WALA via CNN