BATON ROUGE — Starting next week, Amtrak will offer bus service from Baton Rouge to the New Orleans station for connections to the rail service's direct route along the Gulf Coast to Mobile, Alabama. 

"We'll have you in Mobile before lunchtime," Senior Public Relations Manager Marc Magliari said about the service, which starts Monday, Aug. 18. 

The Greyhound and Flix buses will pick up passengers at the Florida Boulevard bus station twice a day. Times for the buses will be made available when tickets are purchased for the New Orleans train.

"You can connect, not only to our trains in Mobile, but...you can be in Chicago the next morning and stop in Memphis to have a nice time," Magliari said.

Magliari added that Amtrak is still working with state transportation partners and the owners of the tracks to expedite the long-awaited Baton Rouge to New Orleans rail connection. 

"I'd say two years or so," Magliari said. 

Tickets and more information about Amtrak's Mardi Gras route, which also starts Aug. 18, can be found here.