Amtrak launched its Mardi Gras Service, a six-stop train line that runs from Mobile, Alabama to New Orleans for just $15 a trip.

The passenger rail service between New Orleans and Mobile made its inaugural run Saturday, featuring jazz bands, beads and MoonPies at stations along the route before public service begins Monday.

John Hilbert stood by the railroad tracks at the Bay St. Louis station on a sweltering Gulf Coast morning, waiting. He was part of a small crowd of residents, travelers, tourism officials and city leaders gathered Monday to welcome the first passengers rolling in from New Orleans on Amtrak's newest rail line.