The Surface Transportation Board sent Friday’s order stating the questions it would like Amtrak and freight rail companies to answer in its April 4 evidentiary hearing. The board will make its final decision on the future of the route after the latest hearing dates. Amtrak and freight company CSX Transportation have been at odds for years over the proposed route, which would connect New Orleans to Mobile, with stops in Mississippi. Amtrak trains which once traveled along the Gulf Coast have never been returned to service since Hurricane Katrina. Amtrak submitted a petition to the transportation board last year to operate the route along freight-owned railways. Amtrak had failed to reach agreements with CSX or another freight company along the route. The transportation board requested that Amtrak and freight rail companies have talks with the U.S Coast Guard about the possibility of using drawbridges along the route. One of the many issues in the ongoing debate about the future of the route was the question of bridges. They are able to be pulled down or support additional traffic from a passenger train. CSX was largely supported by the Alabama leadership, who demanded more research on how passenger trains could affect freight trains’ ability to move goods during public hearings last week. U.S. Senator Roger Wicker from Mississippi said that Amtrak’s return back to the Gulf Coast was too delayed. March was the first date for evidence hearings. CSX requested that they be moved. They will now be held virtualy on April 4th and 5, with the possibility of being extended to April 7th and 8 if necessary. The board will determine if Amtrak’s addition to its existing railroad routes would adversely affect the 11 freight companies that operate on the set of railroads per day. Amtrak’s legal right of operating its proposed two-train route along freight-owned tracks is based on a 1970s agreement which exempted freight companies from providing public transport.