Under President Donald Trump's budget blueprint called "America First," 23 of 46 states that Amtrak serves - including Alabama - would be cut off from the company's long-distance routes.

Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, which is the company's most profitable, would likely be expanded. But Alabama would get left behind.

"It's very strange that an administration that is supposed to be the infrastructure administration, with great commitments to infrastructure and transportation in particular, starts out by decreasing transportation funding by 13 percent," said John Robert Smith, a former mayor of Meridian, Miss., and the current chairman of the board for Transportation for American - a non-profit alliance that pushes for grassroots support of innovative transportation policy in the U.S.

Along the Gulf Coast, the Southern Rail Commission - the leading advocate for rail service in the Deep South - is pressing ahead in efforts to restart passenger rail from New Orleans to Orlando along a CSX freight line that once served Amtrak's Sunset Limited route. The Gulf Coast line has been without passenger rail service since Hurricane Katrina shattered the region in 2005.