With plans made, efforts organized and funding being sought for the Baton Rouge-to-New Orleans rail, the question for St. Charles Parish is if it can get its piece of the “super region.”
“We think it’s a priority for anyone [who is in the super region],” said Buddy Boe, the parish’s chief administrative officer who also sits on a railroad compact whose singular mission is to make the rail happen.
“If we don’t find a way to get workers to work, this state will find itself in a workforce crunch. Providing low-cost passenger rail helps with education and getting qualified workers to jobs.”
While the parish would not have a train stop under the proposed route, Boe maintained it would still significantly gain from what the rail would facilitate in workers gaining easier and affordable access to education and training, as well as the job itself.
“It’s vital to keep adding to the matrix of transportation options,” he said of the parish’s position in the super region (Baton Route to New Orleans). “It’s about making an interconnected super region that can continue adding opportunities.”
This is a project that Boe said would ensure the parish’s continued growth, particularly its numerous industries. For the parish to get its piece of the super region, he said.
“It must have the rail to continue to draw new industries. This is needed to ensure a thriving region and it’s become a platform for New Orleans and Baton Rouge politicians and now the entire super region.”
While the rail project has been discussed for years, it has legs now.
Boe, along with parish Councilwoman Tracy Fletcher, parish Planning and Zoning Director Michael Albert and Taryn Rogers of Valero, are St. Charles Parish representatives on a rail compact created in 2010.
It’s a multi-parish entity, an extension of state government, empowered to “pull the trigger” on the rail project, Boe said. Every parish from Baton Rouge to New Orleans has joined the compact.
“Our major input would be to provide the access to this alternative transportation so that additional people could work,” Boe said.
Since no stop is planned in St. Charles Parish, the benefit would come from using a combination of rail and bus.Of the planned stops, the closest to the parish would be in LaPlace and Kenner.
Carrying a price tag of about $264 million, the rail would handle both freight and passengers. No funding is in hand yet, but Boe said efforts are well underway to get it and it would be pricey.
A major hurdle to the project is the estimated $62 million needed to improve or replace one of Bonnet Carre Spillway’s three aged train trestles.
“It is aging infrastructure that would definitely need to be improved,” said Victor Landry, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ operations manager for the spillway for eight years. “I would say they would have to construct a new line.”
Landry estimated the trestles are all about 83 years old, although they were designed for 50 years of service life.
“They still function, but they’re old,” he said. “They suit the purpose, but if you came with high-speed rail you’d need new track and trestle there.”
But Landry doesn’t foresee this stopping a sound effort toward getting this project off the ground.
A delegation of south Louisiana politicians met with the Federal Railroad Administration in Washington, D.C., in February of last year to seek funding for the rail, including the added cost of crossing the spillway.There is no choice about replacing the trestle, which could not support passenger trains that typically travel 69 to 78 mph.
As importantly, the delegation wanted to show united support for the project, which would be substantially different than in past years when even Gov. Bobby Jindal refused federal funding for the project because he considered it too costly. A 2014 feasibility study states a BR-NO train route would serve 1.4 million people.
“A passenger train service would allow riders to work during commutes, offer an evacuation route during hurricanes, especially to Baton Rouge hospitals, and supply easy connections to events, such as LSU and Saints football games, Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest,” the study says.
Then New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu further states a broad coalition of partners could get the project done with capital investment starting at $262 million (80 percent of it in federal funds). Proposed maximum train speed would be 79 mph. It states existing rail infrastructure owned by Kansas City Southern and Canadian National would be improved to provide safer movement of cargo and passengers along the 80-mile corridor.
If the project is funded, the study also states many bridges along the route would be strengthened or replaced to support high-speed rail.
Among them would be the 1.8-mile wooden rail bridge across the spillway, where trains now crawl at 10 mph that would be replaced at a cost of $62.1 million.Landry agreed one of the three elevated trestles across the spillway could be used for the rail, but he also said no one has approached him about the project.
Another possible obstacle to the project is the significant number of oil and gas pipelines crossing the spillway, Landry said.
The project would have other hurdles to overcome including the Corps of Engineers considering impact to the natural environment and recreation in the area.
Boe said the need for workforce development, as well as having key players on board with the rail compact, in a growing super region will drive the project to fruition.Efforts are already underway in outreach and informing people about the rail’s benefits, he said.
“I believe this is the best position that this project has to becoming a reality,” he said. “When we say everyone who needs to be at the table is there – it’s there. Everyone that needs to be there to provide the proper wholistic approach is at the table. It’s not a matter of will anymore, it’s there. It’s about funding.”
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