Coast Wide Amtrak Celebration set for Thursday

A number of Coast celebrations are on track to welcome Amtrak’s inspection train to South Mississippi this Thursday. News 25’s Kristen Durand shows us who is going to be on board and what this trip could mean for the long haul.
Momentum is building as an Amtrak train prepares to make its way from New Orleans to Jacksonville, a test run, as officials consider restoring this route. This is a service the Coast hasn’t seen since Katrina. Vincent Creel with the City of Biloxi said, “It’s not only good for bringing people in. It’s a two-way street, if you wanted to go to Florida, if you wanted to go to Alabama or Louisiana, you just hop on that train. Daily train service is what they’re looking at.”
Special passengers, Governor Phil Bryant and Amtrak officials, will be on board for Thursday’s trip which begins in Bay St. Louis with a welcome celebration complete with a live local band and Mardi Gras costumes at 10:10. The next stop will be the historic train depot in Gulfport at 10:50 a.m. Chris Vignes with the City of Gulfport said, “We’re expecting a large crowd. There’s been a lot of interest. This used to be a train route that a lot of people used to use. It’s exciting. It will bring a lot of people to our area and we get to show off what Gulfport has to new visitors.”
The train will then make its way to Biloxi with a scheduled stop at the CTA transit station at 11:20. “What we’re hoping to see is a number of people at each one of those stops to show the head of Amtrak and to show the governor that there is interest in Amtrak,” said Creel.
Come Thursday, the transit center will be taken over by a jazz band, second liners, food and crowds of people all to welcome the train as it makes it’s stop in Biloxi and officials say the more the merrier. Biloxi Downtown Services Coordinator Kay Miller said, “We want him to see that the community is behind this, supports it and this is something that we really hope they can make happen soon. I know there’s a lot of hoops to jump through but we hope that it’s going to be a reality.”
The train’s journey through Mississippi will end in Pascagoula when it arrives at the Downtown Pascagoula Train Depot around 12:06 for a pep rally featuring Pascagoula High School’s jazz band. It will continue on to Mobile, Alabama. Many South Mississippians hope Amtrak will keep this service rolling on down the line.
Each welcome ceremony will last about ten minutes but the celebrations will last much longer.