It’s not the traditional season for the famed celebration, but a new Mardi Gras is coming to six cities and towns along the Gulf Coast twice a day, starting August 18. This version will be Amtrak’s new Mardi Gras service, which will run between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, with four Mississippi stops in between: Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula. Amtrak announced the startup date July 1, with events at all the stops that the trains will make.
Traditionally,Mardi Gras occurs in the winter, at the end of Carnival season and before the start of Lent, a season of self-denial in the Catholic tradition that runs until Easter. It’s a fitting name for the new trains, since New Orleans hosts the most-famous celebration, Mobile was the first town to hold it (shortly before New Orleans was founded), and Biloxi hosts its own celebration. An Amtrak news release included statements from elected officials and tourism promoters from Mississippi and Louisiana, and the City of Mobile, all of whom supported the return of rail passenger service to their jurisdictions. Alabama at the state level did not support the upcoming service, but Mobile did. Part of the capital investment required for the new trains is a new station and layup track in that city. The trains will be the only intercity public transportation serving downtown Mobile, since the bus station is located several miles from downtown.
Amtrak Announces Event
After almost three years of frequent reporting on the efforts to restore passenger trains along the Gulf Coast, I last reported on April 28 that Amtrak had announced that the new trains would be named the Mardi Gras Service, but the start date and other details had not been furnished at that time.
Amtrak issued the first notice of the actual start date on Monday, June 30. That was followed by a series of press conferences at all the places along the future route, an opportunity to inspect the equipment at the Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans, and Amtrak’s Release issued on July 1.
According to Amtrak: “‘We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome Amtrak back to Mobile, and with tickets now officially on sale, this long-awaited service feels closer than ever,’ said Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, who spoke at a Government Plaza news conference today where the start date, schedule and fares were first announced. ‘Mobilians have looked forward to the return of passenger rail for years, and the Amtrak Mardi Gras Service promises to deliver not just convenience, but connection.’” Amtrak also quoted the Mayor of New Orleans: “‘Today is only possible thanks to the dedication of stakeholders all across the Gulf Coast who have been tirelessly committed to restoring passenger rail service to our communities for 20 years,’ said New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. ‘Amtrak Mardi Gras Service reconnects New Orleans to its Gulf Coast neighbors in Mississippi and Alabama, bringing benefits to our residents, businesses, and visitors and furthering anchoring New Orleans as the premier passenger rail hub in the South.’” She added: “Amtrak’s return to the Gulf Coast has been a long time coming and we’re excited to see passenger rail returning to the Gulf Coast and will continue to be a strong advocate for existing and future Amtrak service in New Orleans.”
Mississippians also played a large role in getting the new trains onto the rails. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from that state, pushed hard for the train, including asking former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg from the Biden Administration about it during his confirmation hearing, the only question about passenger trains that Buttigieg was asked. Amtrak quoted Wicker this way: “‘I’m thrilled to have Amtrak service restored along the Gulf Coast! It has been almost 20 years since Hurricane Katrina interrupted this service, and its reopening has been a lot of hard work. The Mardi Gras Rail will expand travel options and allow more Americans to experience the beauty and economic benefits of the Gulf Coast. Mississippians deserve access to reliable transportation, and the Mardi Gras Rail will provide more options for communities along the Gulf Coast. I am looking forward to joining Amtrak and thousands of fellow Mississippians at the grand opening,’ said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), senior member of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.”
Another Mississippian has been one of the strongest advocates for the service. He is Knox Ross, Chair of the Southern Rail Commission (SRC), the official grant recipient for the upgrades required for the service. The SRC has members from all three states where the trains will run. According to the Amtrak Release: “‘The Southern Rail Commission is incredibly proud and excited that the Amtrak Mardi Gras Service is starting so soon after decades of work by all our partners who have played indispensable roles in today’s announcement,’ said Southern Rail Commission (SRC) Chairman Knox Ross. ‘We know this service will have tremendous impact in boosting our local economies, connecting people with jobs and education opportunities, and bolstering our vibrant tourism industry in the coastal cities along the route and we encourage everyone to start buying tickets for your upcoming travel.’”
I checked the Amtrak website for fares and schedules. At this writing, the first train from Mobile on August 18 (Train 24) was sold out even before the business day ended. It is scheduled to leave at 6:35 AM and arrive in the Crescent City at 10:13 for a running time of 3:38, slightly slower than the 3:25 previously anticipated and including two minutes of standing time at each intermediate stop. Train 25 is scheduled to leave at 4:30 PM and arrive in New Orleans at 8:25, for a 3:43 running time. At this writing, the coach fare is $24 (the “senior fare” is 10% lower) and Business class costs $114. From New Orleans, Train 24 leaves at 7:35 AM and arrives at Mobile at 11:18 (a 3:43 running time) with a coach fare of $37 and Business class sold out. Train 26 is scheduled to leave New Orleans at 5:31 PM and arrive at Mobile at 9:14. At this writing, the coach fare is $24 and Business Class will cost $75. For the following day, all trains have fares of $24 posted for coach and $59 posted for Business class.
For Guest Rewards members, Amtrak is offering a “3-3-3” promotion, which it explained this way: “Through Nov. 18, 2025, Amtrak Guest Rewards® members can earn triple points on Amtrak Mardi Gras Service travel. To qualify, members must complete three qualifying trips on the service during the three-month promotional period. Once the threshold is met, three times the points will be awarded retroactively for those trips and for all additional qualifying trips taken through Nov. 18. Details are on Amtrak.com.”
The new Mardi Gras service marks the first time that a passenger train will run along the Gulf Coast for a period ten days short of 20 years. It was on August 28, 2005 that the mayor of New Orleans ordered the evacuation of the city. The next day, the storm devastated the city and much of the Gulf Coast in Mississippi. All Amtrak service to and from New Orleans was disrupted, but the other trains returned to service after the host railroads completed necessary repairs. The Gulf Coast portion of the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans to Florida, also a tri-weekly operation, did not. There will be no service east or north of Mobile, at least for the foreseeable future, but daily trains running as far as Mobile are coming back. The last time there were a daily train on the route was in 1970.
New Orleans currently hosts three long-distance Amtrak trains: the Crescent to and from New York, the City of New Orleans to and from Chicago, and the Sunset Limited to and from Los Angeles, which operates only three times a week. The Crescent and the Sunset leave New Orleans before the first train from Mobile is scheduled to arrive, and they also arrive in the evening, after the afternoon departure for Mississippi and Mobile. That means that same-day connections to and from those trains will not be available, but there is plenty to do in New Orleans. According to Amtrak: “‘Expanding connectivity throughout the Gulf Coast region is essential to creating new economic opportunities for residents and businesses alike. With the return of passenger rail service between New Orleans and Mobile, the Amtrak Mardi Gras service will continue to make this region a great place to live, work, learn and invest, and or course visit,’ said Walt J. Leger III, President and CEO of New Orleans & Company, the official destination marketing and sales organization for the New Orleans tourism industry.”
Same-day connections will be available for the City of New Orleans, which arrives from the Windy City and leaves for there after the arrival of the morning train from Mobile and before the departure of the afternoon train. Jackson is a major stop for that train, along with Memphis and a number of places in downstate Illinois.
Second Battle of Mobile
This story was a long time coming. There was a slugfest with Amtrak on one side and host railroads CSX and NS, along with the Port of Mobile, on the other. It included an 11-day trail before the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in 2022 I dubbed the “Second Battle of Mobile.” The first such battle occurred in 1862, during the American Civil War. Railway Age has been reporting on these restoration efforts regularly since 2021, including full coverage of the trial. Both sides slugged it out, as is typical in litigation, whether in court or before an administrative body. Eventually, both parties came to an agreement over the capital investments that were needed before the trains could run and the cost of the required improvements. The professionalism of Martin J. Oberman, then STB Chair, the other Board members, and their staffs were instrumental in getting the trains on track. Changes in leadership at Norfolk Southern (which owns the Back Belt, the few miles of track in New Orleans where the trains will run) and CSX (which owns the New Orleans & Mobile, which comprises the rest of the route), helped, too. Amtrak carried this statement from CSX head Joe Hinrichs: “This new Gulf Coast passenger service wouldn’t be possible without the leadership of federal, state, and local partners. The collective effort reflects our ongoing focus on strengthening the communities that are part of our rail network and our workforce.”
Coming Soon: More Places to Visit and Explore
The Mardi Gras trains will expand the mobility map for non-motorists and motorists alike. At this writing there is very little bus service between the cities and towns where the new trains will call. Greyhound now runs three daily round trips between New Orleans and Mobile. FlixBus, under the same ownership, runs one. One bus from Mobile leaves in the middle of the night, and the Mobile bus station is located several miles from downtown. Local buses do not connect with all intercity bus arrivals and departures. One eastbound and two westbound buses also stop at Biloxi. Gulfport has no intercity bus service, but there are local buses between there and Biloxi. There are no buses serving Bay St. Louis or Pascagoula.
So, the new trains will open new travel opportunities and new experiences for New Orleanians and folks who visit the Crescent City and will be able to take side trips to new destinations along the Gulf Coast.
It’s coming soon, and Amtrak is now spreading the word.
SPECIAL REPORT: Where the Trains Will Go in Mississippi
This story originally ran May 27, 2022. It is now presented as a separate story about the places where the new trains will go. It contains impressions from that time, before Amtrak and other parties made the infrastructure improvements that were part of the preparation for the new service. It is presented as a personal narrative of a two-day trip to those places in Mississippi. It does include Mobile, which I visited roughly 25 years ago, when there was a train. It is a beautiful and historic city, with many museums and historic districts. For the first time in decades, it will host passenger trains again.
I traveled to the towns along the Mississippi Gulf Coast where the proposed trains would stop. This is my report to you about those towns and what they have to offer as destinations.
First, a few preliminary comments. The trip about which I am reporting was a side trip from New Orleans. It was a two-day journey, one that would be impossible without a motor vehicle available, since some of the prospective destinations have no public transportation of any kind. New Orleans environmental and transit advocate Alan S. Drake had the necessary vehicle, and he and I set out to explore the places where the trains would call.
This report will not discuss Mobile, the ultimate terminal for the service, for several reasons. Much of the political push for the trains comes from Mississippi, especially from Sen. Roger Wicker and many local officials in the Magnolia State. Much of that effort may be coming from the casinos in Biloxi, but support in the state for the new service is strong. In Alabama, including in Mobile, the opposition is equally strong. As a destination, though, Mobile has a lot to offer. It is a historic city, with museums, historic homes and commercial buildings, and plenty to do. At least that was the way it was when I was able to take a train there before Hurricane Katrina killed the prior service to Florida in 2005. There is controversy about where the station should be located. Amtrak wants it where it was before: downtown, a location that makes sense. Local officials want to locate it several miles away, which would subject Amtrak riders to the same drawback as bus passengers on Greyhound are now forced to experience. I will have more to report about Mobile in the future, but our focus now will be on Mississippi.
The Six Sisters
During the 1800s, the Mississippi Gulf Coast became a getaway destination for wealthy New Orleanians who wanted to escape the heat of summer in the city, as well as the diseases that ran rampant there at the time. The six towns along the Coast became known as the Six Sisters, and the list consisted of Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Mississippi City, Biloxi, Ocean Springs, and Pascagoula. There of those towns: Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, and Pascagoula, are slated to be future Amtrak stops. Gulfport, the other planned stop in the state, absorbed what was left of historic Mississippi City (which was located about four miles east of Gulfport and once had its own station) in 1965. Pass Christian and Ocean Springs are not slated to be stops, but more about those places later.
So now it’s time to examine what those towns are like today, at least from the perspective of an experienced traveler making relatively brief visits to all of them. The duration of each visit was measured in hours, since there were only two days available for the entire trip but, for most of the towns on the route, that was enough time to get the flavor of the towns. There were some surprises, including some disappointments, but each town is unique, each deserves to be mentioned. So, I will start with Pascagoula, the easternmost town on the list, and head toward New Orleans.
Pascagoula
Pascagoula’s most interesting attraction is located one mile from the train station. It is the La Pointe – Krebs House, the oldest house on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, built in 1757. The house itself is preserved unfurnished, to highlight its architecture. The museum next door is fascinating, and it details the period of French settlement in the region (the 1700s) and the later history of Pascagoula. It could be considered the single genuine tourist attraction in town.
The station itself is in the tiny downtown area. It was built in 1904 and has seen better days. It is now unused and run-down, but it could be renovated relatively easily. The town is not a busy one, although there are a few eateries within a block or two of the station. It would be possible to see the town after alighting from the morning train from New Orleans and before boarding the early-evening train to return, but it is difficult to see how the town would offer enough for a longer stay.
Biloxi
Biloxi has a few casinos and, presumably, that is a significant reason why Sen. Roger Wicker is pushing so hard for the proposed service. The town has a lot more to offer, though, and it’s the biggest city on the proposed route. Biloxi has several museums, as well as historic neighborhoods and buildings. It is also the only place on the Mississippi Gulf Coast still served by Greyhound bus. Biloxi lies in the middle of the proposed route, and it contains the most attractions.
Amtrak does not have a “station” in Biloxi, there is only a short, rusting canopy left over from the previous service that Hurricane Katrina killed in 2005. It is located on Esters Boulevard, a desolate industrial street that has seen better days. The situation is not as bad as might appear at first glance, though. Plans call for the platform to be moved closer to the local bus terminal on the street, where local buses operated by the Coast Transit Authority (CTA, not to be confused with Chicago) take riders to points within Biloxi and to other towns including Gulfport and Ocean Springs.
The proposed station is a short walk from downtown attractions like the Mardi Gras Museum and the Saenger Theater. Other attractions are further east, while still others are located along the beachfront, now a highway along the white sand. They include the Biloxi Lighthouse and the Visitors Center, a 2011-vintage reconstruction of the 1848-vintage Dantzler House, which Katrina destroyed. It contains a small museum gallery about town history. For gamblers, Coast Transit offers a “Casino Hopper” route.
Gulfport
The Gulfport station is historic and houses the town history museum, which is open Thursdays through Saturdays. It was built in 1904 and is located where the historic New Orleans & Mobile route (where the trains would run, now CSX) crossed the Gulf & Ship Island RR, which ran to Jackson through Hattiesburg. The 1910-vintage G&SI office building is still standing, along with several other historic buildings downtown. The downtown area is small, though, and a day trip from New Orleans under the proposed schedule would allow enough time to get the flavor of the town. Coast Transit buses go from Biloxi to Gulfport, so it is possible to visit the town today, but the schedule requires an overnight stay.
Bay St. Louis
Bay St. Louis is a beach town, and most of the interesting sites are on Beach Boulevard and Main Street, on the way there. That center of town activity is located 7/10 of a mile from the station, which now hosts the town museum, with its three components: a small museum about the history of the town and the station, the Bay St. Louis Mardi Gras Museum, and a museum upstairs devoted to local artist Alice Moseley. The museums are open Tuesday through Saturday.
The station itself is interesting and represents an architectural style not normally found in the area. It was built in Mission style, opened for service in 1929, and is known locally as the “Depot.” Presumably the Mission style reflected a desire to promote joint service on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (successor to the NO&M) and Seaboard Railroad to Jacksonville for connections further south in Florida, which ran daily until 1970 and tri-weekly in 1970-71 and again from 1993 until 2005.
There are no local buses in Bay St. Louis, but for visitors willing and able to do some walking, the proposed schedule would allow a day trip from New Orleans with about nine hours to visit the town.
Where the Train Will Not Go
In its final days in 1971, the pre-Amtrak service stopped at three places on the proposed route that are not in the plan to be served in the future: Waveland, Pass Christian, and Edgewater Park. Waveland is about four miles west of Bay St. Louis. Of all the towns on the Gulf Coast devastated by Katrina, it sustained some of the worst damage. The Ground Zero Museum in an old school building commemorating the storm, but it was closed when I attempted to visit. Pass Christian is one of the original “Six Sisters” and is located six miles east of Bay St. Louis. It still has some historic neighborhoods. Edgewater Park was located between Gulfport and Biloxi. Its claim to fame was the Edgewater Gulf Hotel, which was related to the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago, which made it a warm-weather vacation mecca for Chicagoans. Chicago rail historian and advocate F.K. Plous remembers vacationing there, including memories of the train station on the grounds of the hotel and the station agent, who was also the telegrapher. The residential subdivision four miles west of Biloxi is still standing and can be reached by a local bus, but the hotel lasted only from 1926 until 1970.
Curiously, there is a stop that is not slated to be on the restored route but was one of the original ‘Six Sisters” and is still an active town. It is Ocean Springs, about four miles east of Biloxi. The station there is as well-preserved as those in Bay St. Louis and Gulfport, and it houses the visitors’ center and Chamber of Commerce offices. On the Saturday when I visited, there was a farmers’ market at the station, and the downtown area was active, with an artsy flavor. Bus service from Biloxi is limited, running every 90 minutes, but that would be enough for a side trip from Biloxi on the proposed train schedule, at least to see downtown Ocean Springs. The beach is 2½ miles away. It is possible to visit Ocean Springs, even today, using a bus from Biloxi on Coast Transit, but an overnight stay is required.
New Travel Opportunities
However limited they may be, there is no question that the proposed service will open new travel opportunities for anyone who depends on public transportation, or for motorists who would prefer to ride a train rather than having to always watch the highway. Pascagoula and Bay St. Louis are currently not accessible without an automobile, and the new service would allow a day trip to those places for New Orleanians or a side trip for tourists visiting the Crescent City. The new train would also open Gulfport as a destination, because the current Greyhound schedule only allows four hours in Biloxi (there is also a 3:55 a.m. departure for New Orleans, but the bus station is not open at night). That schedule would not allow a visit to Gulfport or Ocean Springs without an overnight stay.
Even for a visit to Biloxi itself, the four mid-day hours available on the current bus schedule do not allow enough time to get the flavor of the town. There are several museums and historic areas worth visiting, and the proposed train schedule would allow about nine hours in town, without having to wait at a closed bus station in a desolate location for hours in the middle of the night.
It appears that the strongest argument for the new service on the ground of travel utility would be for residents of Mobile and the Mississippi Gulf Coast towns to visit New Orleans. The last time there were two trains along the historic NO&M route (on the L&N at that time) was back in the 1960s. There was one daily train on a comparable schedule until April 30, 1971, and again briefly in 1984-85 and 1996-97. Two daily trains for the folks living there, including one that would allow an 8½-hour visiting day in the Crescent City, would constitute access that only the oldest of them would remember.
It would not be fair to say that the proposed new service would revolutionize non-automobile transportation in the region, because its effect would be limited. However, it would add to the list of places that tourists could visit without an automobile, and it would open access to New Orleans and its attractions to a region that has not had such access for more than 50 years, except for two brief periods of less than one year each. For that reason, even if no other, the proposed service would expand the nation’s mobility map for everybody, non-motorists and motorists alike.
