Amtrak requests federal ruling requiring freight operators to allow Gulf Coast service Updated Mar 17, 2021; Posted Mar 16, 2021 The Amtrak inspection train pulls into downtown Mobile in February 2016.(photo courtesy of Marc Glucksman/Amtrak) Facebook Share Federal regulators with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board will determine the fate of passenger rail service along the Gulf Coast. Amtrak, in a news release Tuesday, indicated it was initiating a process before the STB to require the freight operators along the rail line – CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern – to permit the nation’s passenger rail operator two daily Amtrak trains between New Orleans and Mobile.