Amtrak Petitions Board For Access To Choctaw Yard

Amtrak is urging the Surface Transportation Board to compel CSX and Norfolk Southern to allow it access to their networks along the U.S. Gulf Coast, FreightWaves reports. As Amtrak seeks to reinstall passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, it contends that rail line owner CSX is “no longer working with Amtrak to reach a suitable accommodation.” As a result, Amtrak wants the board to issue an order requiring CSX and Norfolk Southern to work with it on allowing access to their networks. In its filing, Amtrak contended it is no longer receiving access to CSX’s rail lines in CSX’s Choctaw Yard in Mobile, which Amtrak wants to use for a temporary layover track for its Gulf Coast service. CSX and Norfolk Southern want all stakeholders, including Amtrak, to complete a study that would look at how Amtrak’s service would affect freight rail services. Amtrak says several studies have already been performed and that it could lose federal funding if the service restoration doesn’t proceed.