Gulf Breeze (train)
The Gulf Breeze was a daily passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Mobile, Alabama, as a section of the Crescent. Southbound, the Gulf Breeze split from the Crescent in Birmingham to serve an additional seven stations in Alabama on a route south to Mobile. The service ran from 1989 until 1995.
History
Amtrak introduced the Gulf Breeze on October 27, 1989, as a section of the Crescent. Costs of operation were split between Amtrak and the state, with the latter contributing about $1.3 million per year. Annual ridership in FY 1994, the last full year of operation, was 7,737. In December 1994 Amtrak announced that the Gulf Breeze would be discontinued as part of a broad cost-cutting measure which saw other services eliminated or reduced. The last Gulf Breeze ran on April 1, 1995, and was replaced by bus service.Later that year attempts were made under the auspices of the Southern High Speed Rail Commission to resurrect the Gulf Breeze as a Mobile-New Orleans service, sharing part of the Sunset Limited's route. This was eventually realized as the Gulf Coast Limited, a joint effort between Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana which operated 1996-1997.
Route
The Gulf Breeze split from the Crescent at Birmingham and ran south through Montgomery to Mobile on the Gulf of Mexico, while the Crescent continued southwest through Mississippi to New Orleans. At the time Mobile was served also by the Sunset Limited., Birmingham, and Mobile are the only Gulf Breeze stations still in operation. Atmore was served by the Sunset Limited from 1993 to 2005. The remaining stations have not seen passenger rail service since the cancellation of the Gulf Breeze.