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Transit Tangents
The Podcast where we discuss all things transit. Join us as we dive into transit systems across the US, bring you interviews with experts and advocates, and engage in some fun and exciting challenges along the way.
Transit Tangents
Y'all Aboard the Amtrak Mardi Gras Service!
We head to the Gulf Coast to ride the first revenue service of Amtrak's brand new Mardi Gras train, connecting Mobile to New Orleans for the first time since Hurricane Katrina devastated the region in 2005.
• Chris travels to his hometown of Mobile to document this historic service restoration
• The Mardi Gras service acknowledges Mobile as the birthplace of North American Mardi Gras, predating New Orleans by 16 years
• Hurricane Katrina destroyed rail infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, ending passenger service for two decades
• The train makes four stops in Mississippi: Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay St. Louis
• Local residents gather at stations and along the tracks to witness and celebrate the historic return of passenger rail
• The restoration represents the final chapter in the region's recovery from Hurricane Katrina
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on this episode, we are heading down to the gulf coast region to take Amtrak's brand new Mardi Gras service from Mobile to New Orleans. Join us on this historic journey on this episode of Transit Tangents. Hey everybody, welcome back to this episode of Transit Tangents. My name is Chris and I'm Lewis, and today we are talking about the birth of a brand new Amtrak service. We are talking about the birth of a brand new Amtrak service. It's actually the first passenger rail service on the Gulf Coast in two decades and we are talking about Amtrak's brand new Mardi Gras service.
Speaker 1:And this service is of particular interest for Chris. Chris grew up in Mobile, if you don't know that, and I'm very jealous that I was not able to partake in this journey. Unfortunately, as you all know, I did move to Germany a couple months back now Well, not that many months back, almost two months back now so I wasn't able to join on this one, and this is kind of one of our first episodes. That is really just one of us or the other, and it seems like you had a pretty successful journey down on the Gulf Coast, though.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely had an amazing time. I was able to go to New Orleans on the way to Mobile, stop at each of the stations and film and talk about them, and then, bright and early Monday morning, was able to jump on the Amtrak and take it back to New Orleans before flying back to Austin.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and to be clear, this was the first of this train that has run publicly ever. So pretty exciting stuff. But without further ado let's jump right into Chris's trip on the brand new Amtrak Mardi Gras service.
Speaker 3:For this episode. We are going south to the Gulf Coast region to ride the brand new Amtrak Mardi Gras service from Mobile to New Orleans. Now we've been talking about this new line for a few months now, but it is finally happening on August 18th 2025. Now this episode will come out about one week after the service starts. So why is Amtrak calling this the Mardi Gras service? What you may not know is that Mobile was originally a French colony founded in 1702, making it 16 years older than New Orleans. It was in these first 16 years of Mobile history that North American Mardi Gras was born, just steps away from the current train station. In fact, mobile, biloxi and New Orleans were founded as a string of French colonies and still maintain a deep cultural bond to this day, including celebrating Mardi Gras. Amtrak has operated in Mobile before, the Sunset Limited used to travel from Los Angeles through Mobile on its way to Jacksonville, florida and then Miami. But even before that, mobile had a legacy of passenger service that connected it to its sister city of New Orleans and the rest of the country. We can still see this legacy today in the form of the GM&O building, which was the Gulf Mobile and Ohio Rail Terminal. That's just on the other side of downtown from the current Amtrak station and currently serves as the hub for Mobile's Wave Transit system. This new train is so important because it is the restoration of passenger service to this region. On August 29th 2005, hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, bringing devastation stretching from Mobile to New Orleans and beyond. Everyone knows about the catastrophic flooding in New Orleans, but storm surges inundated coastal communities across Mississippi and Alabama, including downtown Mobile, where the former CSX station served as Mobile's train station and connection to the Amtrak Sunset Limited. The storm surge in this area rose more than 10 feet over that former station. All passenger rail service stopped after Katrina and now, 20 years later, the first Amtrak revenue service will finally make its way to Mobile.
Speaker 3:Now, full disclosure if I sound a little excited about Mobile Alabama, it's because this is my hometown, which I know I've mentioned plenty of times on the show. But this is where I I'm from and to see this happening right here is very, very exciting. I didn't think I would be able to bring transit tangents to Mobile. Public transit isn't exactly the highest priority in this region. So I am over the moon pie to take you on this journey with me. All right, 630 am Taking the train from Mobile to New Orleans. I am not a morning person, so 6.30 came very, very early, but I was really excited to be at the station and get a chance to walk around the train and take in this historic moment.
Speaker 3:The Mardi Gras service was made up of three cars with two engines in the front and one engine in the back, making this train 50% engine. Now I don't have stats on other Amtrak trains, but this did seem like an absurd amount of power for such a small train and for not a very long trip. Now, as people gathered around the platform, there was a lot of excitement, with plenty of local news crews and some national outlets sending representatives as well. I boarded the train just before departure and took a moment to take a little tour from the third car all the way up to the cafe car, just to get my bearings, and then found a comfortable seat.
Speaker 3:Transit Tangents was not the only transit podcast or YouTube series on the train. All right, transit Tangents in Mobile and running into Miles in Transit. Hey, so all of the transit nerds are converging on this one thing today. Yeah, exactly, I think a lot more on the eastbound too. A lot more on the eastbound. Yeah, as the train started rolling, I took a moment to walk through the cars and ask people why they chose to be on the first ride of the Mardi Gras service. Here's Laura, a Mobile native, who is taking the train with her friends and family.
Speaker 2:This is my very first train ride. I first saw my very first Amtrak in 1976 in Jackson Mississippi, so I've been intrigued by it. I've ridden the subway but never an Amtrak due to work. So, taking the maiden voyage from my hometown of Mobile, alabama, I look forward to having the opportunity throughout the years going from here to New Orleans and even beyond. Having Amtrak back in Mobile, I think, is an intricate part of our growth, as we have Mardi Gras and so many historic festivities in this area, meaning places such as a visit to Africatown or Senior Bowl. So there's so much of a history here in the Mobile area, so we want to share that with the world, so look forward to it here's to come with the word.
Speaker 3:So look forward to it. Here's the cup. Pretty soon. We were rolling out of downtown Mobile, passing all of the shipyards that line Mobile Bay. The scenery quickly turned to swamps, little bayous and the pine forests that are so characteristic of this region.
Speaker 3:As I said at the top of the episode, the Gulf Coast has a legacy of passenger rail. In fact, that legacy goes back to 1869, with the introduction of the New Orleans, mobile and Chattanooga Railroad. More famously, the Louisville and Nashville Company operated passenger service in this region from 1881 to 1971, running flagship routes such as the Pan American Hummingbird and the Gulf Wind. All of these routes ceased operation in 1971 with the introduction of Amtrak, and it wasn't until 1984 that Amtrak attempted to restore passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile with the introduction of the Gulf Coast Limited. That service was quite limited, only lasting for one year. The next attempt at reinstating the Gulf Coast Limited was in 1996, with a trial period that also lasted one year. In 1993, mobile was added to the Sunset Limited extension, which ran from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, florida, and then on to Miami and later Orlando. Those operations ceased in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina. In 2005, with Hurricane Katrina, after a short time we crossed the Alabama-Mississippi state line and found ourselves rolling into Pascagoula, home of Jimmy Buffet, and where the squirrel went berserk in the first self-righteous church.
Speaker 3:I have to give a shout out to Classy Whale for also calling this out in their video. I'm just really happy I'm not the only one who gets a Ray Stevens reference. I'm at least one of two. Now Go check it out.
Speaker 3:Pascagoula is the first stop on the Monte Ross service after leaving Mobile. Now this is also the first out of four stops in Mississippi. The train station behind me was built in 1904 and is currently being remodeled as a brewery, so a very cool amenity to have when the train is rolling in town or you're waiting for that train. Now, as far as things to do in Pasagula, downtown is an easy walk from here, and while there is no city bus service to get around, once you are here, everything is pretty close. Now I'm really excited to show you the rest of the Mississippi Gulf Coast stops, so we're going to continue on to Biloxi. As we started to roll out of Pasagula, mississippi, we passed more shipyards before we began to see our first glimpses of Gulf Coast marshland and open waterways. This is also where I had the pleasure to meet another transit YouTube creator, transit Arias.
Speaker 5:Hi, I'm Transit Arias. I'm Aria and yeah, I'm here after a very long and grueling trip all across Alabama and Georgia because I was trying to maximize my filming time but I wanted to be here for the very, very, very, very, very first revenue service of the Mardi Gras. I booked this ticket the second I found out it was available before even figuring out how I was going to get here and before even requesting any time off, and I'm so glad it worked out. I got to meet everybody on this train. I think more people are going to be on the other one, but yeah.
Speaker 3:Having a little time before we arrived in Biloxi, I took the opportunity to check out the cafe car. The menu items were curated especially for this journey, featuring a few local delicacies from Mobile and New Orleans. If you are taking the Mardi Gras service from Mobile, you also have to go get a moon pie out of the car. They specialize snacks based on the route here. So you have moon pies, you have Zapp's chips, both famous for different cities. Moon Pies are synonymous with Mardi Gras and Mobile. They're the biggest throw and on New Year's Eve every year they lower a 12-foot diameter electric Moon Pie off of one of the tallest buildings in downtown Mobile as part of the big countdown for the year. So don't forget this part. As we approach Biloxi, we cross Biloxi Bay, which carried us over one of several swinging rail bridges operated by CSX. You can actually take a look at Google Maps and see all of the really awesome bridges along the way. Hey, chris, yep, is Biloxi like the Atlantic City of Mississippi, basically Okay, all the casinos, man, the dwell times are so short. All the casinos.
Speaker 3:Our second stop on the Mardi Gras service brings us to Biloxi, mississippi.
Speaker 3:Now Biloxi is really where the entertainment recreation heart of Mississippi starts, kind of like Mississippi's own Riviera. Here you're going to find all kinds of things from casinos, entertainment venues, beautiful old mansions and bed and breakfast, as well as beaches that go on for miles. Now, before all of that, biloxi was actually a French colony founded in the 1700s, and at one point was the capital of French Louisiana, so this place is packed with a lot of things to do and a lot of history. What it doesn't have much of is a train station. I'm standing on basically a concrete pad that stretches for a few hundred feet and nothing else. Now there is a CTA stop that you can get on if you want to use the local bus service to connect to any of the many things that I just mentioned. But but aside from that, this is a pretty sparse station, but maybe that's okay. From here, we're going to continue on down the line to Gulfport, where there's a little bit more happening, and hopefully we can show you more there.
Speaker 1:We're going to jump right back into this episode in just a second, but first, if you have not liked this video, go ahead and do so. Also leave a comment. We love reading all of them and respond to as many as we can, and be sure that you are subscribed so that you catch every episode as they come out.
Speaker 3:please share this with your friends, and if you don't have time to watch youtube videos in the future, you can catch us on any of the podcast platforms that are out there. Just be sure to leave us a rating and give us a comment. On our way to Gulfport, we did encounter our first disruption of the day. Our train was delayed about 35 to 40 minutes due to a tractor trailer getting stuck at the railroad crossing. I took the opportunity to make my way back to the cafe car to meet more of my fellow passengers, and that's where I ran into Rebecca and Grace, a mother and daughter pair, on their way to New Orleans.
Speaker 6:To get on the train today. It's because it's her 19th birthday and we have a connection to the train because my great-grandfather worked on the L&N out of Bay, st Louis, and my mother rode the train several times as a little girl and then into college to Loyola, back and forth, and so kind of like a whole bunch of generations riding a bag Nice.
Speaker 3:Once the train started moving again, we quickly arrived in Gulfport to a small crowd with one very jolly man yes, that's Santa spending a summer vacation in Gulfport shorts, sandals and maybe a little suntan. I visited Gulfport two days before the inaugural revenue ride to film the station and to catch a glimpse of the ceremonial Mardi Gras service that was making its maiden journey from New Orleans to Mobile and back. On that day. I was greeted by some very unwelcoming weather, but also had the pleasure of meeting Joe McHugh, a longtime Amtrak veteran and advocate, who was kind enough to give me some background on the Mardi Gras service.
Speaker 4:Hi, I'm Joe McHugh. I retired from Amtrak in 2020, but before that I served as the company's vice president for government affairs and corporate communications and I've been working on this project really since 2014. And it is an amazing story of just a group of people who have just persevered over the last really 10, 11 years to get this service started here on the Gulf Coast. In February of 2016, we ran an inspection train from New Orleans all the way over to Jacksonville, florida. We had amazing crowds and amazing turnout, so much enthusiasm for the resumption of the service. And it's taken nine years of hard work by the Southern Rail Commission and others to get this service started, which will start now, on Monday.
Speaker 4:And it's more than just a train that's getting started. To get this train resumed, if you will, or resurrected. After Katrina, a group of people worked with Senator Cochran and Senator Wicker and others in the Mississippi and the delegations here on the Gulf Coast to get programs created, such as the Corridor Identification Project, the Restoration Project, other programs that have been funded, which helped to spawn the rebirth of this train but, more importantly, have led to the creation of other corridors and other services around the country. So this is more than just one service getting started. It's the story of a group of people who have helped to build a better future for rail passenger service here in the United States, and we're so excited finally, finally that the service is getting started.
Speaker 3:After braving the weather, the ceremonial Mardi Gras service finally arrived with shiny new engines and a total of 10 passenger cars, including a very, very cool theater car. The third stop of the line is in Gulfport, mississippi, where there's a lot of really beautiful beaches and a lot of great southern charm here. Beaches and a lot of great southern charm here. Luckily, at this part of the journey I was able to catch the sort of test train before we get to go ride it on Monday. That was very cool. We're talking a lot about Hurricane Katrina and the impact of this region, the impact this rail is going to have to the region. It kind of feels like we're finally on the other side of this long road to recovery with the reintroduction of passenger rail. Just like other stops, gulfport experienced some of the worst of Hurricane Katrina and you can still see scars from that storm today. When you're driving down or traveling down the beach area, you find areas where old, historic homes are just gone and all that's left are stairs to nowhere and pillars sitting on the open air. So you can still see the impact the storm had today and I know folks here are really excited to finally have the sense of closure from the storm. Gulfport's historic depot opened in 1904 as a union station where the L&N crossed the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad. Today it houses the Gulfport Museum of History. It was then time to say goodbye to Santa and continue along our journey to Bay St Louis. The journey between Mobile and New Orleans is expected to take around 3 hours and 45 minutes, while driving typically takes closer to two and a half hours. It's not too surprising that this passage takes a little longer, despite its generally direct route. There are a lot of railroad crossings, moving bridges and freight traffic on this corridor, but overall we were traveling around 45 miles per hour for most of the journey. One observation that we kept repeating over and over throughout the day is that folks in these towns are really excited for the new train. We saw so many people greeting us at the stations and actually saw a lot of people on the side of the road or the side of the railroad tracks waving at us as we passed by. The scenery into Bay St Louis is really gorgeous. You cross its namesake Bay St Louis. You approach the town over the water, passing a huge marina, before crossing over one of the town's main entertainment districts, pulling into the Bay St Louis station, we were greeted by a large crowd dressed for Mardi Gras, a part of the town's heritage they are fiercely proud of.
Speaker 3:Our fourth stop of the Mardi Gras line brings us to Mississippi's secret coast, right here in Bay St Louis. The train station behind me has been sitting here for over a century and is located right in the heart of this really charming little coastal community. Originally, this train station was built for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and today it serves as a welcome center and museum for the town, including a Mardi Gras Museum. Now, once you get to Bay St Louis, there's not a lot of transit In fact there's no public bus but everything is very close together. You have the entire little downtown that's very compact, sort of one half block and then a couple blocks to the south. You also have the gulf, so really easy access to beaches, some really amazing smelling restaurants over here and just a really charming, charming vibe. The restoration of this passenger rail service is important to everyone on the gulf coast, especially those that were impacted by hurricane katrina, but probably no more significant than right here in bay st louis. Just next door in Waveland, mississippi, is where Hurricane Katrina's eyewall actually came ashore and just completely devastated the community. So to finally see the restoration of this service 20 years later it's sort of the last scar to heal or the last wound to heal from the storm. All right, we are going to jump back on the train and head towards new orleans for our last and final stop.
Speaker 3:Leaving bay st louis, we waved to the crowds and prepared for our final stop in new orleans. Just as we left bay st louis, we did catch a glimpse of the eastbound mardi gras service as it passed us. I tried to get a better shot with the camera, but it all happened just a little too quickly. Now, if the scenery before this leg of the trip was beautiful, what you see between the next two stops is breathtaking. I absolutely loved passing through the coastal marshes, grasslands and waterways, trying to spot all the native birds and desperately trying to capture an alligator on film. Unfortunately, I did not catch one on the way.
Speaker 3:Soon enough, the swamp gave way to the city as we began our approach into New Orleans, passing industrial canals where shipping traffic is moving between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. We then moved through neighborhoods of historic homes and even through some of New Orleans' iconic cemeteries. With the skyline steadily approaching, I began gathering my things for our arrival. After disembarking from the train, I took a moment, I looked around the platform and just really took in the historic journey that we just completed. After a little while, I made my way into the New Orleans station to review our last stop of the day, and with that that brings us to our fifth and final stop on the new Mardi Gras service from Mobile to New Orleans.
Speaker 3:As you can see behind me, we landed at the Union Passenger Terminal, which is located right in the central business district of New Orleans, so very easy access to everything the CBD has to offer, as well as the French Quarter and Garden Districts nearby. Now this is the largest train station on the US Gulf Coast, bigger than Houston, bigger than anything in the Florida Panhandle. This isn't just the terminus for the Mardi Gras service. This is also a connection for the Sunset Limited, for the Amtrak Crescent and for the Mardi Gras service. This is also a connection for the Sunset Limited, for the Amtrak Crescent and for the City of New Orleans. So a lot of national connections coming out of here as well, and a large Greyhound bus terminal.
Speaker 3:So once you're here, getting around is going to be super easy Now, the terminal that you see behind me. This is actually built in 1954. At the time, new Orleans had five different transit depots or train depots, and this consolidated them all into the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. If you were taking Amtrak and arriving in this area of New Orleans, you have really easy access to the rest of the city. There is the modern, updated streetcar line right here, steps from the entrance, and all of the New Orleans city buses that will connect you anywhere that you need to go. So very central, really easy location to get around. So, whether you find yourself here because you want to take in a Saints game, experience Mardi Gras, or just have some fun on Bourbon Street, this Union passenger terminal has easy connections all over the city that are gonna guarantee that the good times keep rolling on. What started as a very early morning in Mobile ended with a bright and sunny day in New Orleans, hopefully a sign that the Mardi Gras service has a bright, festive and long-lasting future ahead.
Speaker 1:It seems like you had a really good journey, jealous that you were in New Orleans again. If you guys remember from a very early episode, new Orleans was I think it was the second city in a day episode we did back in like March of last year. This is like we're dating the channel. Now we're almost we're approaching two years, which is actually kind of crazy. But yeah, I mean also very cool that you got to meet some other transit YouTubers on. Now we're almost we're approaching two years, which is actually kind of crazy. Um, but uh, yeah, I mean also very cool that you got to meet some other transit youtuber youtubers on the trip. I'm a big fan of miles in transit, so I'm a little jealous. Uh, when you texted me, you were like miles is on this train with me. I immediately looked at jerry actually my partner and I was just like oh, like miles in transit is on the same train as chris and jerry was just looking at me like I was such a yeah, I met Miles in transit, met Transit Arias, also another content creator.
Speaker 3:Saw some other content creators who were on the eastbound train. Check out Classy Whale's video if you haven't already seen it. Yeah, it was really cool to see the amount of excitement and attention that this was getting on that weekend.
Speaker 1:And we'll make sure all those folks who have posted videos about this are linked down below if you're interested in seeing some alternate perspectives. I know chris made a few cameos and miles video as well, so, um, that was pretty fun, but overall, definitely very exciting to see this type of service being added to the gulf coast region. Um, and also, like two trains a day is in in each direction, it's pretty pretty. I mean, it's not, it's not good, but it's better than what I would have expected, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3:No, but I think it'll also match some of the patterns in that region. So you're not really commuting between Mobile and New Orleans for work, but what you are doing is doing day trips. So this is really beneficial for everyone on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi because now they have the option of going to these close city pairs. They can actually use this as a morning commute or they can go to New Orleans or Mobile I think it was on Classy Whale's video they make a comment about this should really be called the Mississippian because it's primarily a Mississippi railroad. But all in all, I'm really optimistic that people will use this as a fun day trip or kind of train.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and hopefully it's the kind of thing that it it just kind of builds upon itself. Um, they're I think you were saying they're expecting ridership of around 60 000 people a year, um, which would be, which would be pretty good, and hopefully we see that kind of continue to build upon itself. Um, and you know, this could be the kind of thing where they potentially add more capacity to the line or they add additional trips in the future. And the other thing I kind of like about this is it's not incredibly long, like. I feel like so many of the Amtrak routes are just these. Like you know, there's a lot of these really long distance routes that feel to me pretty impractical, and they're prone to long delays and all sorts of stuff like that. So I kind of like that this is just like it serves a clear purpose. It's not trying to be some massive route. It goes, you know, just just from Mobile to New Orleans and kind of gets the job done, if that makes sense. With all that being said, though, thank you all so much for watching this video.
Speaker 1:If you want to support the show directly, the best way to do so is via our Patreon, our merch store, or buy me a coffee. We're trying to do some additional stuff for Patreon. I actually recorded a little video last week about a topic that's going to be coming up soon. That was just me doing some preparation work for an episode about how Austin is kind of going to be changing a lot of their transit system to get ready for the new light rail that will be constructed beginning in 2027. Fingers crossed. So that was like something new. We're going to try to do more stuff like that. If you have suggestions or anything, definitely let us know. Um, if you want to just support the show in a non-financial way leaving comments, subscribing tell your friends about the channel. Uh, help us out quite a bit as well. Um, but with all that being said, thank you all so much for watching and enjoy the rest of your transit.