As a federal board weighs whether Amtrak can share freight tracks for new passenger service between Mobile and New Orleans, the railroad took its argument to a live online audience.
Amtrak launched a Twitch stream Wednesday along a stretch of railway in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to show viewers how infrequently freight trains pass. The move comes while the Surface Transportation Board hears testimony in a case pitting Amtrak against freight operators.
Spokesman Marc Magliari said technical issues made the GoPro camera “up and down” from noon to 5 p.m., but that he was on-site from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and counted five trains.
CSX spokeswoman Cindy Schild pushed back, writing that the freight company sees eight to 10 trains a day on the track, along with coal trains and local trains that may not travel the full route. She called focusing on one point of a 138-mile line “grossly misleading.”
Magliari implied Schild’s figures were misleading too, noting some coal trains never leave Mobile. “To suggest that those trains would be so disrupted by two trains spending less than 30 minutes in Mobile is misleading,” he said.
Local Southern Rail Commission members sided with Schild that a single camera on one stretch of Mississippi track is not proof freight would be unharmed. SRC member Wiley Blankenship said the issue is “the impact, not the number of trains,” and praised the port’s quick growth.
Blankenship believes Amtrak and freight can coexist, but said it will take more investment. “It’s called resources,” he said. “That’s probably what it’s going to take.”
The board was set to take more testimony Friday before possibly scheduling another round of hearings, after which it could decide whether Amtrak may share the tracks.