Here’s the latest on the Gulf Coast rail saga…
After what feels like an eon of bureaucratic ping-pong, Mayor Stimpson’s office finally flung the lease to Amtrak for a downtown train stop.
That ticks off the last box in a paperwork marathon that might just end with actual trains running between Mobile and the Big Easy.
Although the deal’s just for a platform —
No grand station with bells and whistles yet.
But hey, progress is progress, right?
The city council’s vote is still the season finale here, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s not a guaranteed standing ovation.
Some members are already side-eyeing the project, and the drama’s just as thick as Gulf Coast humidity.
Despite the hesitation, there’s big money shuffling around.
We’re talking a few million here and there from everyone except Alabama, apparently.
Amtrak and friends finally settled their steel cage match to lay down some track improvements, funded by a cool $178.4 million from Uncle Sam’s piggy bank.
Behind all this rigamarole, the trains’ return has been a pipedream for years.
Always just one more ‘crucial step’ away…
So, will the council vote usher in a new era of train travel, or will it be another case of ‘so near yet so far’?
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