Amtrak’s Mardi Gras Train Tops 150,000 Riders in First Year, Mobile Stop Still Lacks Cover

One year after Amtrak relaunched passenger rail service along the Gulf Coast with a Mardi Gras-themed celebration, complete with jazz bands, beads and MoonPies handed out at every stop, the Mardi Gras Service has blown past its first-year projections. Ridership has topped 150,000 riders, far exceeding the initial estimate of 38,000, and the service has generated about $5.2 million in revenue since it began running between Mobile and New Orleans.

The route, which spans 145 miles between the two cities, surpassed ridership expectations in less than six months, according to Amtrak officials marking the anniversary this week.

“What can you say?” said Todd Stennis, director of government affairs with Amtrak, ahead of boarding the service in downtown Mobile. “It’s exciting. Everyone who uses the service is excited about it. It speaks volumes for the Gulf Coast communities from Mobile to New Orleans and their support for this service and for those who ride it.”

Momentum Builds, But So Does a Wish List

Amtrak celebrated its 100,000th Mardi Gras Service passenger earlier this year, ahead of the train’s early morning departure from downtown Mobile on April 21.

But as the initial excitement settles and the service moves into its second year, some missing amenities have become more noticeable, particularly at the Mobile stop. The downtown Mobile train platform remains uncovered, aside from a pop-up tent that offers riders limited protection from rain and the region’s often blazing afternoon sun.

Stennis and Knox Ross, chairman of the Southern Rail Commission, said they are in ongoing discussions with the City of Mobile about building a permanent facility at the stop, though no timetable has been announced for that project.

Update: Stennis said the permanent concrete platform planned for Mobile Station is still in the early design stages. “They’re in the early stages of design right now, and that’s a communication ongoing between the city and Amtrak,” he said.

Asked when he would like to see the permanent platform completed, Stennis joked that the honest answer would be immediately. “We’d like to see it now,” he said. “Now would be the obvious answer, but now is not realistic.”

Visit Mobile President and CEO David Clark, who also serves as a Southern Rail Commission commissioner, said passenger feedback has made clear what many riders want to see next at the Mobile stop.

Clark said train passengers are taking advantage of the station’s location at the edge of downtown Mobile’s walkable entertainment district, exploring Dauphin Street, local restaurants, and attractions such as the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf, the Mobile Carnival Museum and the Exploreum Science Center. But he said passengers are also asking for more at the station itself. “There’s considerable feedback about wanting more of a station, more experience, more of a covered station here,” Clark said.

Asked whether Mobile ultimately needs a more substantial passenger facility, Clark said yes: “I think long term there needs to be one here.”

Dale Liesch, spokesman for the City of Mobile, said Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis’ administration is “exploring the possibility of something more substantial” than a simple cover or awning over the existing platform, though he said further details will be released later.

In April, when asked about the status of a more permanent facility, Cheriogotis described the situation as “fluid,” while Stennis said the project was in the design phase, with funding discussions still to come.

Meanwhile, the Mardi Gras Service’s western endpoint, the Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans, received a boost of its own last week: a $2.5 million federal grant to modernize electrical and mechanical systems at the station. That funding will go toward repairing the terminal’s deteriorating platforms and canopies, which are about 70 years old.

A Gateway to Downtown Mobile

Mobile’s convention and visitors bureau is hoping the service’s second year brings a more substantial facility to the downtown platform, citing consistent feedback from riders who want to see permanent infrastructure similar to what other stops along the route already have. “We get that feedback from customers that they want to see something more permanent like they see from the other stops,” said Ashley Rains, a spokesperson for Visit Mobile. “The conversations are always open. Everyone wants this to be as comfortable as possible.”

Rains said the Amtrak platform has become more than just a train stop for many visitors. “We continue to hear of people coming in for day trips and finding the train platform serving as a gateway into our downtown entertainment district,” she said, adding that many of those visitors return with larger groups after their first trip.

An Unexpected Draw: Saints Games

Visit Mobile was also encouraged last year when Amtrak added an extra rail car to the route to handle increased demand during New Orleans Saints home games at the Caesars Superdome, a short walk from the Union Passenger Terminal.

Rains said there has been no announcement yet on whether Amtrak plans to bring the additional car back for the upcoming football season.

The Saints connection produced a surprise for Mobile tourism officials: rather than only carrying Mobile-area fans toward New Orleans for games, the extra capacity also brought New Orleans residents to Mobile on game days, as some fans chose to leave the city during games and explore Mobile’s downtown instead. “One of the surprises came from the people from New Orleans who left New Orleans during the games and brought groups to Mobile,” Rains said. “They started coming over here, using that extra car to explore Mobile during Saints games. I think these kinds of organic surprises that we’ve learned about and recognized … has really set our focus for how we are marketing the train and where we are marketing the train to.”

Marking the Anniversary With Friends

Tuesday’s anniversary celebration put a human face on the ridership numbers. Bernadette Taylor and her friends Joan and Jessica, who met one another while riding the inaugural Mardi Gras Service run a year ago, returned to Mobile to mark the occasion, this time wearing matching T-shirts made for the trip.

“We met on the train last year, so we came on the first train ride, and we had to make history, so we have T-shirts made,” Taylor said, with her friends adding that they were “repeating history” on what they called a “girl’s trip.”

Eugene Green, a member of the New Orleans City Council, traveled to Mobile for the celebration. He said the twice-daily schedule has turned Mobile and New Orleans into easy day-trip destinations for riders. “This is just a one-day trip, which is a great thing about the Mardi Gras Line,” Green said. “You can come in, you can have a great time, meet friends on the train, have some refreshments, and then head back the same day.”

Ross put a finer point on the ridership growth, saying the service is now carrying roughly 400 passengers a day between Mobile and New Orleans. “We’ve doubled our projected ridership,” Ross said. “We’ll do 150,000 this week.”

Despite that growth, Amtrak has not announced any expansion of the Mardi Gras Service. Stennis said the schedule will stay as it is for now, though the company remains open to future changes. “Right now, it’s gonna continue to be exactly what it is,” Stennis said. “But as that opportunity presents itself, we will absolutely explore those chances.” He added that no other Amtrak route in the country has drawn the level of publicity the Mardi Gras Service has received.

Ross said the first year’s numbers suggest passenger rail is becoming more than a novelty along the Gulf Coast, with travelers increasingly treating the train as an alternative to driving Interstate 10 and navigating the Wallace Tunnel between Mobile and Baldwin County.

Safety Concerns Along the Route

Amtrak’s return to the Gulf Coast has not been without tragedy.

The service has been involved in deadly crashes at railroad crossings, including a Feb. 21 incident in Theodore, Ala., in which two people inside a vehicle died after their car collided with an Amtrak train, according to Mobile police. Those incidents prompted public officials to launch a safety awareness campaign this spring. The City of Mobile produced a “safety crossing 101” video highlighting that passenger trains travel much faster than freight trains, information officials say is critical for drivers and pedestrians near the tracks to understand. “We are always doing that and will continue to do that PSA thing to promote safety along the railroad tracks,” Liesch said. “That will continue.”

As the Mardi Gras Service enters its second year, officials from Amtrak, the Southern Rail Commission and the City of Mobile all say the focus now shifts to sustaining ridership growth while addressing the infrastructure and safety gaps that have emerged since the celebratory relaunch a year ago.

About the Route

The Mardi Gras Service began Aug. 18, 2025, with two round trips a day between Mobile and New Orleans and intermediate stops in Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. It restored passenger rail to the Mississippi and Alabama coast for the first time since Hurricane Katrina halted Amtrak’s Sunset Limited service east of New Orleans in 2005.