(The following story by Jeb Schrenk appeared on the Mobile Register website on March 5.)
MOBILE, Ala. — People who purchase Amtrak train tickets will no longer be able to do so from its Mobile station beginning in April.
Amtrak is closing the ticket counter at the station because not enough tickets are being sold there to justify keeping it open, said Marcie Golgoski, Amtrak spokeswoman. She said the ticket agent’s last day there is April 23.
Golgoski said the station, in the CSX Transportation building at the foot of Government Street, will be opened for boarding, and tickets will continue to be taken by personnel on the train.
“Nothing is changing with the train service,” Golgoski said.
Golgoski said she does not anticipate a notable loss in riders out of Mobile.
There are not many to begin with, though. The Sunset Limited, which runs from Los Angeles to Orlando, Fla., passes through Mobile during the wee hours of the morning.
The train had 2,117 riders who boarded or got off the train in Mobile last fiscal year, Golgoski said. By comparison, Penn Station in New York had 8.5 million passengers.
Of Amtrak’s approximately 500 stations, Mobile ranks 459 in num ber of passengers, she said.
The White House last year ranked the Sunset as among the top money-losers in Amtrak’s long-distance fleet. The Sunset Limited lost $347 on every passenger it carried in 2001, according to the Bush administration.
The federal government subsidizes Amtrak’s operations.
In Mobile, the train leaves at 2:29 a.m. headed west Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The train leaves at 1:57 a.m. going east Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
The hours the station is open for ticket sales have been equally unusual — 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.
The Mobile ticket agent will have the option of taking another Amtrak job, Golgoski said. Mobile is one of two locations where Amtrak is closing the ticket counter.
Most riders in Mobile were not buying tickets at the station, she said. Instead, they bought tickets from travel agents, online or by calling Amtrak at 1-800-872-7245 — ways customers will be able to get tickets when the counter is closed.
Passengers also can purchase a ticket from the conductor for an additional fee, but Golgoski said she discourages riders from doing so because there might not be a seat available.
A caretaker will be hired to open and close the station for passenger boarding, she said.
But the future of the physical station is unknown. The CSX building is for sale, and the city has expressed an interest in purchasing it.