Amtrak Crescent Section between Meridian, Miss., and Fort Worth, Texas.

NEW ORLEANS — Amtrak will apply for a federal grant that, if approved by the Federal Railroad Administration, would pay for 80% of a study of track and station improvements necessary to extend a section of the New York-New Orleans Crescent between Meridian, Miss., and Fort Worth, Texas.

Nicole Bucich, Amtrak’s vice president of network development, acknowledged the encouragement of federal, state, and local officials, and a Louisiana-led Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement grant application, in announcing the company is partnering with the Southern Rail Commission in applying for a Federal-State Partnership Program grant.

“We are very excited about the extension of the Crescent from Meridian to Dallas; you all have been working on this for a very long time,” Bucich told the group. “We feel this is the catalyst for a lot of work by many people in this community — not just the technical work that’s been done, but tremendous outreach that’s been going on.”
...
John Robert Smith, the former mayor of Meridian and Amtrak board of directors chairman who is now chairman of Transportation for America, noted at the meeting that efforts to extend a section of the Crescent over the jointly-owned Kansas City Southern-Norfolk Southern Meridian Speedway have been pursued for decades.
...

Greg Moore wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 10:40 pm There's no dining car on the Crescent these days?
That may have just made a travel decision for me.

Greg Moore wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 10:40 pm There's no dining car on the Crescent these days?
That may have just made a travel decision for me.

west point wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:29 pm Unconfirmed rumor the diner is close to returning once NOL gets enough OBS.

Amtrak officially submits grant application to extend passenger rail service from Meridian, Miss. to Dallas-Fort Worth via I-20 corridor
...
On Wednesday, June 7, officials with Amtrak, the Southern Rail Commission (SRC), and the City of Shreveport held a briefing to update the public on the I-20 corridor passenger railway project. Amtrak has now officially applied for federal funding from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to connect New York, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta to the Dallas-Fort Worth area via communities in central Mississippi, north Louisiana, and east Texas.

This project would extend the existing long-distance Amtrak Crescent train from Meridian, Miss. This would be the first time Amtrak has extended a long-distance railway in decades.
...
-The proposed I-20 Rail Corridor service will connect the mega-regions of Dallas-Fort Worth and Atlanta with the economies and populations of Northern Louisiana and beyond through connections with Amtrak’s Texas Eagle, City of New Orleans, and Crescent trains.
...