New Gulf Coast Amtrak service (New Orleans - Mobile and Baton Rouge)

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Magnificent stuff! As an outsider, may I ask where Danville TN is? Google maps can't seem to find it :)
Danville TN won’t be found on most maps – not contemporary maps anyway, as one easily could find the Danvilles of IL and VA.

As Siegmund stated, Danville is a ghost town. The land on which the former community of Danville TN was impounded when the region was inundated by the Tennessee River, the TVA’s (Tenn. Valley Authority) construction of Kentucky Dam in 1944 to create the Kentucky Lake reservoir.

On the other hand, the community of New Johnsonville, TN, located upstream along the CSX Bruceton Sub (former L&N, ex-NC&StL), is the result of a new town established when the former town of Johnsonville TN also became inundated for the new lake. Still, Danville TN remained an official station point on the Memphis Line until the late 1970s.

So, Danville is the PoDunkest of podunks and the name remains primarily as an association among locals.
 
Danville TN won’t be found on most maps – not contemporary maps anyway, as one easily could find the Danvilles of IL and VA.

As Siegmund stated, Danville is a ghost town. The land on which the former community of Danville TN was impounded when the region was inundated by the Tennessee River, the TVA’s (Tenn. Valley Authority) construction of Kentucky Dam in 1944 to create the Kentucky Lake reservoir.

On the other hand, the community of New Johnsonville, TN, located upstream along the CSX Bruceton Sub (former L&N, ex-NC&StL), is the result of a new town established when the former town of Johnsonville TN also became inundated for the new lake. Still, Danville TN remained an official station point on the Memphis Line until the late 1970s.

So, Danville is the PoDunkest of podunks and the name remains primarily as an association among locals.
A similar thing happened in Massachusetts when the Quabbin Reservoir was built to supply water to the Boston Metro area. The flooding of the Swift river valley caused the loss of the towns of Enfield. Prescott, Greenwich, and Dana, which you will not find on your Google map.
 
"Mobile is the only city along the route to New Orleans without infrastructure built to accommodate an Amtrak train. Other cities that are stops along the Gulf Coast route – Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay St. Louis – have train stops or depots ready to go in preparation for Amtrak’s restart."
Yeah. Come on, Mobile. Get with the program!
 
Hard to believe this wasn’t a priority from day1. I wonder if there is a building along the track in Mobile that could be repurposed as a station with an added platform. NC has done this successfully and if I recall correctly so did Denver when DUT was being renovated.
For the longest time they were arguing about whether the station should be downtown or near the airport. I lost track of whatever came of it or not.
 
So...the article says both these things:

construction of a train stop, and a track leading to it in downtown Mobile, is the final infrastructure issue that needs to be addressed before Amtrak can restart passenger trains

and

the anticipation is for Amtrak to restart along the route before the end of the year

So either

(1) Mobile gets the station and new track built in the next 6-8 months
(2) The train is delay into at least 2024
(3) The train can start running in 2023 but not go as far as Mobile

Hard to see (1) happening unless all the stars align more perfectly than one could hope for. More likely is (2) I suppose, which is a disappiontment. If they go with (3) then ridership will be pretty stunted until Mobile is ready for service.

Really frustrating if we are finally clearing long-standing difficult hurdles to start this service in the next several months but now Mobile not being ready may well push the start off further?
 
I suppose it is within the realm of possibilities to slap together an Amslab with a Bus Shelter type thing on the Amslab in 6 months pending something more elaborate. That should be sufficient to start service, though embarrassing for Mobile. But every indication is that they thrive on such down there :rolleyes:
 
I suppose it is within the realm of possibilities to slap together an Amslab with a Bus Shelter type thing on the Amslab in 6 months pending something more elaborate. That should be sufficient to start service, though embarrassing for Mobile. But every indication is that they thrive on such down there :rolleyes:
Well, initially the Tukwila. WA stop had temporary wooden platforms, so I am sure something could be slapped together in 6 months. What is probably the bigger holdup and the critical path is getting all agencies involved, Amtrak, CSX, the City of Mobile, etc, to agree on something and getting it permitted. There will have be some agency or organization pushing them all to resolution, otherwise they'll all consider it someone else's problem.
 
Well, initially the Tulwila stop had temporary wooden platforms, so I am sure something could be slapped together in 6 months. What is probably the bigger holdup and the critical path is getting all agencies involved, Amtrak, CSX, the City of Mobile, etc, to agree on something and getting it permitted. There will have be some agency or organization pushing them all to resolution, otherwise they'll all consider it someone else's problem.
It is ostensibly the Southern Rail Commission which is supposed to be doing the pushing AFAICT.
 
Hard to believe this wasn’t a priority from day1. I wonder if there is a building along the track in Mobile that could be repurposed as a station with an added platform. NC has done this successfully and if I recall correctly so did Denver when DUT was being renovated.
Remember that Mobile was against resuming passenger service. Unlike the Mississippi Coast, they are a destination for a lot of CSX freight. They are in lockstep with CSX.
 
Hard to believe this wasn’t a priority from day1. I wonder if there is a building along the track in Mobile that could be repurposed as a station with an added platform. NC has done this successfully and if I recall correctly so did Denver when DUT was being renovated.
You're correct regarding the temporary station at DUS. There was a lot of background noise, but it had a happy ending. The temporary station's disadvantage was the need to cross arterial Wewatta Street to get to or from the trains, which were on Track 8. The building was formerly a lighting outlet store.

The main danger with temporary stations is the St. Louis model, where the temporary is around for a long time. In Denver, some faction among the developers thought that Amtrak should remain in the temp site.
 
I suppose it is within the realm of possibilities to slap together an Amslab with a Bus Shelter type thing on the Amslab in 6 months pending something more elaborate. That should be sufficient to start service, though embarrassing for Mobile. But every indication is that they thrive on such down there :rolleyes:
That seems fine! Get a portable wheelchair lift for ADA. The slab needs to not cause any problems constructing the permanent high platform. Short trains might solve that problem ?
 
You're correct regarding the temporary station at DUS. There was a lot of background noise, but it had a happy ending. The temporary station's disadvantage was the need to cross arterial Wewatta Street to get to or from the trains, which were on Track 8. The building was formerly a lighting outlet store.

The main danger with temporary stations is the St. Louis model, where the temporary is around for a long time. In Denver, some faction among the developers thought that Amtrak should remain in the temp site.
That “temporary station” in Denver was pretty nice…some places would be thrilled to have had one similar…😉
 
Wow- I was so excited for this train to run then Mobile needs a terminal. Why were they not getting it ready while they were doing test runs, where were they stopping when they were doing the test runs.
 
Wow- I was so excited for this train to run then Mobile needs a terminal. Why were they not getting it ready while they were doing test runs, where were they stopping when they were doing the test runs.
The usual internecine wrangling among various stake holders. Nothing unusual here or almost anywhere else, but with rail in the US these things seem to drag on longer.
 
As Mobile is also a port used by Carnival Cruise Lines, one would think city, county and state big-wigs would be eager for cruisers to have another way to get to/from their cruise ship. The double tracks run right next to the Cruise Terminal at 201 Water St. . . .

Mobile AL.jpg

. . .and there's also a reversing loop about four miles to the north.
 
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