Amtrak plans to start its long-awaited service between here and New Orleans next year, but key details – including cost – are still to be worked out.

Last month, Amtrak reached a settlement with the Port of Mobile, Norfolk Southern and CSX. The terms of that settlement are confidential until the Surface Transportation Board approves it. But if it does, as expected, it will pave the way for passenger rail service in Mobile for the first time since 2005.

“This is a big deal,” Southern Rail Commission Chairman Knox Ross said during a meeting of the organization in Mobile on Friday. “We’ve been working to get this service, really since 2005.”