As far as I'm aware, it's only Mobile, not the state yet.
Per a discussion elsewhere, some critical success factors include (1) having a tight schedule - the competing interstate is wide open; (2) good timekeeping for the same reason; (3) define the mission of the train.
3 is really important to me - we can't just be adding lines to create a network on a map where one functionally doesn't exist. This train is not here to interline with the Sunset, which runs every third(?) day or the Crescent, which runs almost parallel. This train is either for sending vacationers to the gulf coast or for bringing shipbuilders and their bankers into New Orleans. Or it's a tourist train with a serious face.
Once the mission is clearly defined, schedules can be set based on what those people want. If it's for business people, let's not have it arrive at 1pm and depart an hour later.
Also, this brings back my old question: "Whats so great about NOUPT?" As of right now, it's on the edge of the business district and adjacent to Smoothie Center and Superdome. But it's not really a business person travel tool yet, so that's off the table. No trains pairs arrive/depart for sports games, so that's off the table. It's not walkable to the Quarter, although it's a quick cab ride. It's nowhere near residential areas or the burbs. It's a compromise spot that I think the city really liked in 1950 because it allowed the central spots of SOU, KCS, L&N, and MP to be removed in order to develop more buildings and freeways.
None of this was a real question anybody asked about, because as of today, the New Orleans passenger trains are all long-distance cruisers. Someone coming from Houston on a 9 hour ride that is likely late by another hour or two can afford to sit in a cab for 45 minutes to their final destination. Someone from Metairie or NO East doesn't mind a 45 minute cab ride downtown to ride back through their neighborhood 90 minutes later when they're riding to Chicago or Atlanta.
But when the drive to Mobile can be 2 hours, nobody wants to waste two hours getting to NOUPT, perhaps parking a car, and doing the "Amtrak big station marching game where everybody loses" when they could be already in Mobile by then.
I'll ride the train once to give it a try. But I'm not sure how it's going to make sense when I could be in Mobile having a cocktail at Wintzels or Haberdash while the train passengers are still marching around NOUPT.
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.