Negotiations are underway to revive a long-awaited Amtrak route connecting Atlanta and Ft. Worth, Texas, through Meridian, but it has taken a backseat to a Gulf Coast train route that was abandoned after Hurricane Katrina.

“The Gulf Coast is first in line — it gets priority,” said Transportation for American Chairman and former Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith. “… There’s a finite amount of money that you can compete for.”

The coastal route, which would run from Mobile to New Orleans, was abandoned more than a decade ago after Hurricane Katrina devastated the coast.

Smith said it will take about two years to negotiate terms for the two-and-a-half hour train route from Mobile to New Orleans. With matching federal funds, it would cost the states of Mississippi and Alabama about $23 million.

“It’s not like it will take two years to do the work — we’re talking about negotiations,” Smith said. “You could run trains there in six months.”

Smith said the Meridian-to-Marshall route would come soon after, as matching federal funds are also available if the states commit.

“I would think that would follow suit,” Smith said. “As soon as [the Gulf Coast] project gets pulled together, we would move to pressing for the Meridian to Dallas/Ft. Worth.”

The lion’s share of Amtrak trains run on existing host tracks, operated by freight railroad companies.

The I-20 Corridor Council, based in Texas, has been working with state and federal officials and Amtrak to restore passenger rail service from Meridian to Marshall, Texas, which would ultimately connect Atlanta and Dallas.

According to Richard Anderson, chairman of the I-20 Corridor Council, the service running through Meridian was discontinued more than 50 years ago.

“The concept is to have all three states pushing for this passenger rail service,” Anderson said in an August 2017 report. “It would benefit all three states — it would benefit the entire south.”

From Atlanta, one Amtrak route already runs through Meridian to New Orleans. The route from Ft. Worth runs to Marshall and then northeast into Arkansas. The idea is to create a straight shot for passenger trains from Atlanta to Texas.

In August 2017, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said Amtrak is on board.

“There’s a lot of demand for additional services around the country… Because people don’t like doing what I’m doing — talking while driving. They would much rather be talking to you from a train while riding.”

Smith said the Millennial Generation will ultimately be responsible for the resurgence of passenger trains, even in the South.

“They aren’t as married to the automobile as my generation was,” Smith said, adding that Millennials and Baby Boomers are the two largest generations in American history. “Those two huge generations drive marketing advertising and many of the choices we make in this country.”