As federal regulators continue weighing whether Amtrak can restart passenger service between Mobile and New Orleans, the rail carrier has turned to an unconventional tool to make its case: a live video feed broadcast on the streaming platform Twitch.
Amtrak set up a camera along a stretch of freight track in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, this week, allowing anyone online to watch in real time just how often — or infrequently — freight trains pass through the corridor. The stream is part of an ongoing effort by Amtrak to convince the federal Surface Transportation Board that reviving twice-daily, round-trip passenger service along the Gulf Coast route would not meaningfully interfere with freight operations.
The dispute has been building for years. Since Amtrak first proposed restoring passenger rail between Mobile and New Orleans, freight railroads operating in the corridor, along with the Alabama Port Authority, have raised concerns that adding passenger trains to the line could worsen congestion and slow the movement of freight through the Port of Mobile. The Surface Transportation Board has been hearing testimony from both sides as it decides whether to grant Amtrak access to the tracks.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said the livestream camera, which relied on a GoPro-style setup, had some technical hiccups and was intermittently offline between noon and 5 p.m. on the day it launched. Magliari said he personally observed the track from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and counted five freight trains passing the fixed camera location during that window.
CSX, one of the freight railroads that operates on the corridor, pushed back on the idea that a single camera positioned at one point along the line could capture the full picture of freight activity. CSX spokeswoman Cindy Schild said in a written statement that the company runs eight to 10 trains per day over the tracks, in addition to coal trains and other local traffic that may not travel the entire route between Mobile and New Orleans.
“It takes a freight train about eight to 10 hours to travel between New Orleans and Mobile,” Schild wrote. “Focusing on one point of a line that traverses approximately 138 single-track miles, major ports and interchange points, and then purporting that it is indicative of the operational realities of the entire line is grossly misleading. Anyone that understands railroad operations, including Amtrak, would know that.”
Magliari, in turn, suggested that some of the figures CSX cited were misleading in their own way, noting that a portion of the coal trains referenced by Schild never leave the Mobile area and instead shuttle between McDuffie Island and other parts of the port rather than traveling the full New Orleans-to-Mobile corridor.
“To suggest that those trains would be so disrupted by two trains spending less than 30 minutes in Mobile is misleading,” Magliari said.
Locally, members of the Southern Rail Commission, a multi-state body that has advocated for restoring Gulf Coast passenger rail, said they see merit in both arguments. Commission member Wiley Blankenship said the debate over train counts misses a more important point about how freight and passenger traffic actually interact on shared track.
“When most people hear that it’s eight to 10 trains, they say ‘that’s not a whole lot,’ but it’s not about the number of trains — it’s the impact,” Blankenship said. “It’s not being transmitted clearly. It depends on how it’s configured.”
Blankenship also praised the Port of Mobile for its rapid growth in recent years, growth he said has accelerated even as officials have continued discussions about bringing passenger rail back to the corridor. He said he believes freight and passenger operations can ultimately coexist on the line, but that doing so successfully will likely require additional investment in rail infrastructure to ease any bottlenecks.
“It’s called resources,” Blankenship said. “That’s probably what it’s going to take.”
The Surface Transportation Board was expected to continue taking testimony from Amtrak and the freight railroads, with the possibility of scheduling an additional round of hearings before issuing a decision. Magliari said that once those hearings conclude, the board could rule on whether Amtrak will be allowed to share the tracks and restore passenger service linking Mobile and New Orleans for the first time since Hurricane Katrina disrupted the route in 2005.
The outcome carries significant weight for South Alabama, where local officials, business leaders and rail advocates have pushed for years to reconnect Mobile to New Orleans by passenger train, arguing it would boost tourism and give residents another transportation option along the Gulf Coast. Port officials and freight carriers, meanwhile, have warned that any new passenger service must be carefully managed so it doesn’t come at the expense of the cargo traffic that has become an increasingly vital part of the regional economy.