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Two decades in the making: Passenger rail returns to the Gulf Coast

By Rachel Ellis, August 25, 2025

Earlier this month, the Gulf Coast celebrated a long-awaited milestone nearly 20 years in the making: the return of passenger rail service between New Orleans and Mobile, AL. With brass bands, second lines, and Mardi Gras regalia, communities across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama welcomed the launch of Amtrak’s new Mardi Gras route—marking the first time passenger trains have run this corridor since Hurricane Katrina.

Smart Growth America’s transportation program, Transportation for America (T4America), has played a leading role in bringing passenger rail back to the Gulf Coast and creating programs to expand passenger rail across the country. What began as a regional vision grew into a national movement, with T4America lending policy expertise, navigating regulatory hurdles, convening stakeholders, and helping build a strong coalition of local leaders and residents committed to bringing trains back to the Gulf Coast.

Along the way, our team helped build new federal programs to fund the service, coordinated test rides to show feasibility, and built the public and political will to make passenger rail a reality. These efforts didn’t just lead to the restoration of Gulf Coast rail. They also helped pave the way for the creation of a federal rail program with the potential to expand passenger rail nationwide.

See our timeline that breaks down how this decade-long effort came together!  

T4America Senior Policy Advisor John Robert Smith, along with other staff, was part of the inaugural train ride, joining local leaders, community members, and long-time advocates at every stop along the new route. From the second line sendoff in New Orleans to the joyful welcome in Mobile, members of the T4America team witnessed firsthand how much this service means to the people of the Gulf Coast—and just how powerful it is when federal policy and local voices come together to deliver real change.

The Mardi Gras line is proof of what’s possible when communities organize, elected officials lead, and federal policy supports progress. The same programs and policies that made Gulf Coast rail restoration possible can, and should, be leveraged to expand passenger rail across the country.

To truly build a national passenger rail network, federal policy needs to go beyond one-off projects. That means sustained investment in rail infrastructure, a clearly coordinated national vision, and the authority to deliver service faster and more equitably. Transportation for America’s new policy proposal lays out a path to make that vision real in the next federal transportation reauthorization. The Mardi Gras line is just the beginning. The future of American passenger rail is ready to leave the station.

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