The Southern Rapid Rail Transit Commission was awarded a cooperative agreement for phase II of the Deep South High-Speed Rail Corridor study. The project supports a study of rail corridors from Atmore, AL, to Lake Charles, LA, and from New Orleans, LA, to Birmingham, AL, for potential connections to other high-speed rail corridors in Florida, Georgia, and Texas. The project includes assembling data, examining the condition of facilities, capacity issues, geometry of alignment, ridership projections, preliminary environmental considerations, and sponsorship issues (partnership potential).

The objectives of the study are to define a corridor or corridors for a high-speed rail passenger service through the service areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. This includes development of a general description of the corridors and providing details of the benefits of such a system. The alternate corridor selection process requires assembling and evaluating existing, relevant data from state, regional and local agencies, and meeting with involved state, regional and local agencies, and the railroads whose lines would be utilized. The proposed alternate corridors will be defined and compared, with an estimate provided of the number of railroad/highway grade crossings on each route. The study includes projections of annual ridership, operating plans identifying proposed levels of service, conceptual level plans covering improvements and upgrades, order-of-magnitude capital cost estimates, environmental concerns and estimated costs for grade separating or improving railroad/highway grade crossings. The study also identifies possible federal, state, regional and local funding sources and financial options for implementation. The final deliverable is a final report detailing the results of the study.