Transportation secretary in Mobile for Gulf Coast Rail groundbreaking

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is in Mobile today to take part in a groundbreaking for the Amtrak layover track and platform in Mobile.

Buttigieg posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he would take part in the groundbreaking that is the last piece of the project that will restore passenger rail service from Mobile to New Orleans after 20 years.

The groundbreaking is scheduled for 2 p.m. today on South Water Street in downtown Mobile.

The Mobile City Council approved leases for land to build the platform on August 6. CSX agreed to build the layover track as part of a 2022 settlement of a case between Amtrak and Norfolk Southern to allow operation of the passenger trains.

Once in operation, Amtrak will run twice daily from Mobile to New Orleans, with stops in Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport and Bay St. Louis in South Mississippi.

No start date for the passenger service has been set.