(Over the course of the next few days, the Red River Parish Journal is republishing some of its most memorable stories from the past year … some of our readers favorites).

Three new Amtrak passenger rail lines are opening in our area. 

Amtrak reps recently gave an update to the NOLA City Council. Each will have Wi-Fi, business class options and food and drink.

The routes includes New Orleans to Mobile; Baton Rouge to New Orleans; and Dallas to Meridian along 
I-20. 

Amtrak’s Gulf Coast will depart every morning from New Orleans and another in Mobile with four stops in Mississippi… Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi and Pascagoula… then return late afternoon or evening. It should come online sometime this summer. Passenger service along the Gulf Coast has been suspended since 2005 when Hurricane Katrina destroyed critical rail infrastructure.

The in-state project envisions twice daily trips with stops in Baton Rouge downtown and the Health District in Baton Rouge, Gonzales, LaPlace, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and the Union Passenger Terminal next to the Superdome in New Orleans. DOTD is leading a project on the line from Baton Rouge south. The state provided 32 million dollars to get the project off the ground. 

The proposed I-20 corridor would have stops in Shreveport, Monroe, and Ruston.

Amtrak says all funding is in place and contracts have been signed.