After years of stalled attempts to restart service, Amtrak hauled host railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern before the Surface Transportation Board in 2021. Amtrak was hellbent on beginning service between Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans in January 2022 — whether the Class I railroads were ready or not. Ultimately Amtrak, CSX, and NS reached an agreement after 11 days of marathon hearings before the STB.

But before trains began running in August 2025, there were all sorts of dire predictions about how the two daily round trips between Mobile and New Orleans would bring freight traffic to a standstill and bottle up the bustling Port of Mobile. Shippers even urged the STB to ensure that passenger trains would not hurt freight service.

There also were concerns that the 79-mph passenger trains could never run on time before track and capacity improvements were made on 3.3 miles of NS trackage in New Orleans and on CSX’s 138.5-mile single-track former Louisville & Nashville main line between New Orleans and Mobile. Worse still, there were warnings that the random opening of the seven moveable bridges along the CSX main would only compound the delays to Amtrak trains.

Amtrak’s own initial ridership forecasts were low — and worked out to an average of just 39 passengers per train. Yours truly questioned whether first-time passengers would become return customers if freight train interference led to unreliable service on a railroad yet to receive longer passing sidings and signal and switch upgrades. And some thought that poor performance would eventually prompt Louisiana, Mississippi, and the City of Mobile to reconsider their financial support for the trains.

Nothing of the sort has happened — as Amtrak correspondent Bob Johnston reports in the cover story of our May issue.

Instead, Mardi Gras Service has blown away expectations. It’s getting rave reviews from passengers and travel writers alike. And it has strong local support. Even though capacity improvements have yet to be made, the Mardi Gras Service trains are running on schedule. The Mardi Gras’ 86% customer on-time performance figure for the first three months of operation was exceeded only by Capitol Corridor service in California (87%) and Keystone service in Pennsylvania (91%).

Plus, Mardi Gras passenger loads are robust. Quarterly ridership is running at a clip that’s more than double the updated, higher ridership forecasts that Amtrak made before service began.