AMTRAK SERVICE I-20 CORRIDOR: There’s been quite a bit of news lately concerning the possibility of expanding Amtrak Passenger Rail Service along the Interstate 20 corridor from Meridian Mississippi – to Monroe and Shreveport/Bossier and connecting all the way through East Texas and Dallas-Fort Worth. It has been announced earlier this week that AmTrak has now officially applied for federal funding from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to receive a grant to further study this project.
I spoke with Amtrak Media Relations Spokesman Marc Magliari as he was on the road to meet with officials in Jackson, Mississippi. He said thanks to the Biden Administration’s Bi-partisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act, transportation projects like the I-20 corridor can finally get much needed funding to expand service in underserved areas like the ArkLaTex.
“That funding is the highest amount of funding for passenger rail than the accumulative the federal government has appropriated to AmTrak in 52 years,” Magliari explained. “That’s why we’re talking about a new era, an era where there are more AmTrak trains, more places, more often for places that have been left off the map, that have grown a lot since 1971, now have a chance to get service.”
Magliari said that the grant would come from the Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration. He said a lot of the groundwork already done by local and regional groups will likely go a long way in helping secure the grant. “The mayors have really shown leadership here, the mayors of Shreveport and Bossier are working together on a station site,” Magliari said.
“The mayors in Ruston and Monroe and over in Vicksburg and all the way over to Meridian. In fact we’ve even had mayoral support in Atlanta.” If AmTrak receives the grant, Magliari said the project study could optimistically take 18 to 24 months in determining things like potential passenger useage, rail-sharing access between freight and passenger rail service, as well as what costs will be involved in improving existing rail infrastructure.
Once passenger service is extended across North Louisiana connecting Dallas/Ft Worth and Atlanta – some studies suggest North Louisiana along could see an annual economic impact between $70 to $80 million dollars.