Above photo: Southern Rail Commission’s Knox Ross on the platform at Pensacola, Fla., on Feb. 19, 2016, on the second day of Amtrak’s Gulf Coast inspection trip. Bob Johnston.
Disbursement of funds from grants awarded under a variety of Federal Railroad Administration continue to be held up by a lengthy approval process involving FRA personnel. These investments are threatened by potential staff reductions at the agency, as well as possible vetos by overseers invoking new Trump administration ideological criteria.
Concerned about such a prospect, the Rail Passengers Association and 22 other public transportation advocacy organizations on Friday, Feb. 28, sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, urging him to “preserve mission-critical personnel to avoid further delays in the administration of these passenger and freight projects.”
The correspondence refers to a memorandum sent last week by the administration’s Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management. It demands reorganization plans requested under a Feb. 11 executive order, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.” DOGE is not an actual government department, but an initiative led by billionaire and presidential advisor Elon Musk. Its efforts to cut workers are facing a variety of legal challenges; last week, a federal judge blocked, at least temporarily, mass firings of probationary employees.
The letter points out that Congress provided $66 billion over five years in advance appropriations. and another $13 billion through 2025. However, much of that funding is mired in the FRA’s drawn-out evaluation process [see “Amtrak independence at stake …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 14, 2025].
Gulf Coast challenges
Though obligated by the FRA, federal matching funds remain frozen that would help beef up the Southern Rail Commission to manage two Amtrak round trips between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. “My understanding is that it is part of the administration’s hold,” says current SRC chairman Knox Ross. He tells News Wire, “No one has said anything about rescinding any financing, but we’ve been talking to Mississippi and Louisiana about other sources to pay for what we need to do.”
That includes hiring former Amtrak officials, who have taken company buyouts, for their institutional expertise, as well as promotion specialists to effectively launch the service. Although the SRC was also awarded two grants under the FRA’s Corridor ID program for the Gulf Coast and Interstate 20 Corridor (Meridian, Miss., to Shreveport, La.) proposals, the commission has put New Orleans-Mobile work on hold. “We were led to believe we could use the $500,000 to address startup needs — planning for actual service that’s ready to go — but the FRA says they can’t do that under the terms of this grant,” says Ross.
Meanwhile, construction of the Mobile platform and pocket track — a requirement before the Gulf Coast service can be launched — is being paid for directly by Amtrak and the city. And CSX has moved ahead with installation of positive train control around Gentilly Yard east of New Orleans. “This was done on purpose,” Ross says, “because we all felt like it was better to not have those key projects dependent on approval of a federal grant.”
The other obstacle to service startup — still targeted for June — is Amtrak’s insistence that separate operating agreements must be finalized with the states of Louisiana and Mississippi. This is the case although the SRC’s predecessor organizations had acted to address that need for Gulf Coast Limited round trips on the same route in the 1980s and 1990s.
Despite those complications, Ross says, “Everybody is pulling in the same direction to make this happen.” Those with influence and an interest in the project include its handlers at Amtrak; new Surface Transportation Board Chairman Patrick Fuchs, who sat through more than a dozen contentious hearings until differences were resolved; Mississippi U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker; and entrepreneurs at communities along the route who have been waiting nearly a decade for service to begin. One of these is Gulfport, Miss.,-based Chandeleur Brewing, which is in the process of turning the former Louisville & Nashville depot at Pascagoula, Miss., into a trackside brew pub.
However, now hanging over the venture is the possibility grants supporting the service will be judged to be “unproductive and unnecessary,” by those at DOGE or Office of Management and Budget. These individuals did not participate in the grant approval process or may be ideologically opposed to passenger rail.
Having come this far, two Gulf Coast round-trips sponsored by the Southern Rail Commission likely have enough high-profile backing and local enthusiasm to muscle through any obstacles. Other rail projects may not be as fortunate.