The Southern High-Speed Rail Commission hosted a summit in Meridian this week for officials from Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.

Among the topics were how to improve and grow passenger rail services, as Americans continue to face high gasoline prices and financially strapped airlines increase ticket prices and reduce the number of flights operated daily.

Former Democratic nominee for president and former Massachusetts governor, Michael Dukakis, is the former vice-chair of the Amtrak board and was one of the featured speakers for the first Southern Rapid Rail Transit Commission's 2008 Intercity Passenger Rail Summit at Union Station.

Dukakis says upgrades to passenger rail service now will help the economy in more ways than one.

"Certainly, when we're in the middle of a fiscal mess, this is a great time to put people to work rebuilding this country's infrastructure, including its national rail passenger system," said Dukakis.

Amtrak officials say ridership has increased in 2008 by 11% overall and increased up to 40% at some individual corridors. This is a trend which they say won't end.

"If you look at the trends in terms of highway congestion, environmental issues, land use, fuel prices, it's really a logical conclusion," said Amtrak president and CEO Alex Kummant. "Certainly long-term trends are that gas prices will be up."

That's why Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith, who is also chairman of the Southern Rapid Rail Transit Commission, says Amtrak is now looking to add an additional train route between Meridian and New Orleans.

"The Crescent runs full all the time. Gas prices are forcing this issue," said Smith."People cannot afford $4 a gallon gas and travel any distance at all. Gas prices are driving the rail issue."

Smith says just last week Congress approved a measure that in the future could virtually double funding for passenger rail service.

Meanwhile, along with adding routes, Mississippi transportation officials say with the high price of gas there's definitely a future for rail service in the state, especially when it comes to developing those that run at high speeds.

"Actually it makes more sense in the south, because we've got more room to build some of this rail," said central district commissioner, Dick Hall. "They've got that congestion up there. We don't have that here. We can build really rapid rail like they have in Japan and Europe, where you can travel 120 miles an hour between stops. So, all of this we're talking about is a long way in the future, but this is a great beginning."