Paula Merritt / The Meridian StarWork is underway on the railroad tracks under I-20 overpass and Highway 11 near Meridian Regional Airport. 

Routine work on the Norfolk Southern Railway will interrupt service for Meridian passengers.

Travelers using Amtrak trains 19 and 20, part of the Crescent Line, to Atlanta or New Orleans may have to take the bus, possibly delaying their arrivals. 

Amtrak will offer buses as a replacement mode of transportation during the days when repair work will take place through Feb. 23. 

Stations affected by the work include New Orleans, Slidell, Picayune, Hattiesburg, Laurel, Meridian, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Anniston and Atlanta.

“The buses will attempt to replicate the schedules of trains 19 and 20 and will make all of the (trains) 19 and 20 stops,” Amtrak spokesman Mark Magliari said. 

Magliari noted that buses will likely not be as fast as the trains.

“People should be at the stations at their regular times but the buses may be running behind,” Magliari said. 

The work, performed on a five-year cycle, will affect the northbound and southbound lines differently.

For northbound travelers, service will be disrupted Monday through Thursday and a bus will provide transportation from New Orleans, and the stops between, to Atlanta.

For southbound travelers, a bus will replace the train Sunday through Wednesday. 

The trains will operate normally the other days of the week. 

The work will involve installing 135 miles of rail on the 518-mile stretch, surfacing highway and rail grade crossings, and making track upgrades, according to the Norfolk Southern Corporation Director of Public Relations Susan Terpay. 

According to a November news release, Amtrak had a record 31.3 million passengers during the 2015-2016 fiscal year. 

The Crescent line, stretching from New York City to New Orleans, had 238,448 passengers in the same period, a 4.8 percent drop from the previous year, according to the release.