The new train service will connect Mobile to New Orleans with four stops in coastal Mississippi, returning rail service to the Gulf Coast nearly 20 years after Hurricane Katrina.

It's been 20 years since Amtrak trains rolled between New Orleans and Mobile, AL. In August, the trains will return.

Amtrak’s Mardi Gras Service between Mobile and New Orleans will launch on Aug. 18, ending the lengthy effort to restore passenger operations on a route that last saw an Amtrak train in 2005. Tickets were placed on sale this morning;