MARKS — Amtrak trains have a stop in Marks as of Friday afternoon when the ribbon-cutting took place.
Begining in nearly two weeks, the City of New Orleans train going southbound will stop in Marks at 8:01 a.m. each day The train going northbound will stop in Marks at 8:31 p.m. each night.
It will stop three hours earlier both times in Marks until the regular schedule begins. The first official stop in Marks took place during the ribbon-cutting when several public officials got off the train.
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker was the first to exit the train. Amtrak stopping in Marks has been something public officials locally, statewide and in Washington, D.C., have been working toward the past 20 years.
“We want the world to come to the Mississippi Delta and get on the Amtrak train in Marks,” Wicker said. “This is the tourism dollar at work. We want people from France, from England, from Japan, to come here and see the Mississippi Delta bridge. We want them to go to Clarksdale and Ground Zero and the Shack Up Inn if that’s what they want to do.”
State Sen. Robert Jackson was on the Quitman County Board of Supervisors when discussions began about Amtrak stopping in Marks during the 1990s.
“Today is a great day in Marks, Miss.,” he said. “Big hand for the Board of the Supervisors, the city of Marks, our US delegation, our senators, Congressman (Bennie) Thompson couldn’t be here, but as you know, he supported this effort.
“Like many of you, I plan to get my ticket, go to Chicago, go to New Orleans. It’s just a blessing to just step out of your door to drive into town, catch a train and go anywhere. We invite people from all over the world to visit Marks, Miss.”
Jackson said he saw public officials on hand from many different areas, including Coahoma County.
“At this point, this is not only going to help Quitman County, but Coahoma County, the entire Mississippi Delta and the United States,” said State Rep. Orlando Paden. “We have another avenue of transportation. This has been a long time coming and we are very much excited about it. I have so many constituents in Coahoma County that leave for Greenwood to catch the Amtrak. Now, they’re only 10 to 15 minutes away to catch it here.”
Coahoma County Board of Supervisors vice president Johnny Newson was on hand for the ribbon-cutting.
“It (Coahoma County) most definitely will help the success of the train station,” he said. “We have the blues, a magnet of tourism and we are hoping that people will use the train to come to Coahoma County.”
Delta Blues Museum Director Shelley Ritter expressed similar sentiments.
“I hope it will increase tourism because people will be just 15 minutes away from Clarksdale,” she said. “People, if they’re on the train, usually have to get off in Memphis and rent a car.”
Marc Magliari, public relations manager for Amtrak from Chicago, talked about why Marks was a good location.
“We go a long way between Greenwood and Memphis without stopping,” he said. “People over here in Marks and Tunica have said, ‘Why don’t we have a stop here?’ We began those conversations in the late ‘90s/early 2000s and it’s taken that long for this to happen because it’s more complicated than it looks.”
