re: Dedicated passenger train from Baton Rouge to New Orleans "3-5 years away"

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This thing is going to take 90 minutes with 7 stops (Mid City BR, OLOL, Gonzales, LaPlace, MSY, Zephyr, and NOLA CBD). You would avoid all of that headache at the 10/110 split, Nicholson traffic, 10/12 split, spillway traffic, Metairie traffic, paying for parking in the CBD, paying for parking in downtown BR, finding parking near LSU, ect.

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Check your maps.

The Illinois Central RR runs through downtown BR near the Old State Capitol along La. 30 to NO and to downtown NO. It does not go past the OLOL hospital, or thru Gonzales or by Zephyr Stadium. It goes along the river thru Lutcher.

The Old KC Southern RR goes thru mid city at S 14th street and Govt., continues along Perkins Road by the OLOL Hospital and along Airline Hwy thru Gonzales and on passed Zephyrs Stadium and on to NO. It doesn't go downtown.
Both RRs go by the airport and thru LaPlace

If you want to catch downtown BR a connection between the two RRs would be needed.

More than one RR would need to be involved to get someone thru each of the locations you outlined.

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You should have no trouble getting to the main places where people work, i.e. OLOL, LSU, and downtown.


I don't live where i work. How do i get to the trainstation? Am I to go out in the morning with my kids and wait for the bus?

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Step1: wait and catch the bus or drive to station and park and then ride train to the closest stop to where you work.
Step2: utilize the public or mass transit options available to get you to work or use uber.

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Will since i don't live in Zachary as you somehow implied, yes, it takes me 70 minutes to get from Essen to the Huey P. There isn't this traffic nightmare leaving BR at 6 in the morning, nor are there idiots stopping to look at water on the spillway, and there's just some short wait time between Williams and Veterens in N.O.

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Is anyone forcing you to take the train to work? The train will just provide others will more options to get from where they live to where they work.

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I don't believe that for one second. Dowtown BR to dowtown N.O. is around 80 miles. Is this train going to be traveling at speeds in excess of 100mph? There are regulations that only allow for trains to go 10mph over the Bonnet Carre, which is 10 miles long.

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1. A new bridge will be built over bonnet carre that will allow the train to go full speed or close to full speed
2. The route is around 90 miles and the train will average close to 79mph
3. The projections have from the superdome to government street with 7 stops in 95 minutes. Commuter trains only stop for 2-3 minutes per stop. just like a subway you have to be ready to get on and get off.

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Besides that load of crap, even if it did take 90 minutes, how long will it take for me to catch the bus by my house, then catch a bus in N.O. to get to my office?

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If only there was an app for that. Oh wait there is

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Transit App
iPhone/iPad Download – FREE | Android Download – FREE

The Transit app allows you to access all public transportation routes in Orleans Parish. The app updates every 30 seconds to show any bus or streetcar in real time, so you will always know how far it is from your stop!

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LINK

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The only way i would have considered taking the train is if it took less than an hour, and cost somewhere around $5 one way, and that's just not possible.

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Train is suppose to cost $10 one way for a mid-city to CBD trip, but it will be cheaper if you get off and on at earlier stops. Even if you took the whole trip it would cost $20/day plus whatever bus, streetcar or cab/uber fare you need. Google maps is saying that right now it would take 1hr and 26 minutes to get from the Superdome (NOLA CBD terminal is right by there) to the River Center in BR (closest easily googleable address to the proposed BR terminal) and that is with no accidents or delays (I don't believe it). The train is suppose to take 95 minutes to do the same route so it will take 9 minutes longer, but if there is even one accident the train is faster. During that 95 minutes a train has wifi you can take a laptop or tablet and get work done or chill out and watch a movie or have a drink with other commuters. Also like other commuter rail agencies when the demand for BR-NOLA is high enough they can add an express train that would only stop at midcity BR, MSY, and CBD in NOLA and that one could get there in an hour. The Long Island Railroad has happy hour specials in the afternoon. So if it is done right it could be a much more enjoyable or productive commuting experience than driving. At $2.50/gal gas in a truck that gets 20mpg you would burn 4 gallons of gas and that is the cost of a ticket plus the wear and tear costs. However by the time the train is an option gas will probably be much more expensive. It will take a minimum of 10 years to get the train up and running if they want to do it properly. 3-5 years for approval and finalizing the plan (author of article in the OP was extremely misleading) and 7 years, according to the ppl who conducted the study, to do the track upgrades, build stations, and get the trains.

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So who's really going to ride this train? the same people that ride the CATS bus?

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Someone in this article said that there were 40,000 commuters between NOLA and BR everyday and the study say they expect 210,000 riders the first year and the ridership to grow every year. Ideally it would become popular and 25% of commuters to switch to train that is 10,000 riders/day * 5 days/week * 52 weeks/yr = 2,600,00 riders every year. However that is extremely ambitious but even it it just got 5% that is 2,000riders/day * 5workdays/week * 52 weeks/yr = 520,000 * $20 (roundtrip) = $10,400,000 in fares. The study estimates just under $9million/yr operating expense. So it will be a money loser at first, but if it grows in popularity then it will break even or make money. The state of Louisiana has already ruled out state tax dollars so it will be subsidized by local taxes and that has not killed the demand so apparently the locals want it.

Here is the actual study and plan from BRAF if you want to learn more about it.

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Check your maps.

The Illinois Central RR runs through downtown BR near the Old State Capitol along La. 30 to NO and to downtown NO. It does not go past the OLOL hospital, or thru Gonzales or by Zephyr Stadium. It goes along the river thru Lutcher.

The Old KC Southern RR goes thru mid city at S 14th street and Govt., continues along Perkins Road by the OLOL Hospital and along Airline Hwy thru Gonzales and on passed Zephyrs Stadium and on to NO. It doesn't go downtown.
Both RRs go by the airport and thru LaPlace

If you want to catch downtown BR a connection between the two RRs would be needed.

More than one RR would need to be involved to get someone thru each of the locations you outlined.

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There is a combination of 3 lines involved and connectors or upgraded connections between is included in the plan. The KCS line is the longed one but the CN and NOLA public belt railroad are also included. The only station location that is set in stone today is the existing Amtrak station in NOLA and the others are just suggestioned locations. Here is the actual plan if you have anymore questions.

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It will be linked to downtown via a streetcar which will also go to LSU. OLOL, Gonzales, LaPlace, Louis Armstrong Airport, Zephyr, and the CBD are all connected on that same line as is that midcity station. They never use the line that follows Highway 30. They use the line that follows Airline Highway.

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Exactly, but you aren't going from downtown NO to downtown BR on that line like people have been saying.

There is a cost to the project every time to add something new. It's not just about upgrading the old KCS RR from BR to NO and that's it.

On the NO end things are in better shape, they have local rail/trolley/bus service; but on the BR end where mass transit is way behind there is a lot that has to be done.

And all of this depends on there being enough demand for the service.

for a few (relatively speaking) who live say in the Garden district here and frequent the NOCBD on a regular basis it might be good; but for the guy that lives in Hickory Ridge and goes to the NOCBD every other day, it may be an entirely different matter. He won't want to come downtown to the main hub, he might not even want to fight the traffic to a hospital district station, he would have to have a good reason to stop, park say in Gonzales to use the station there.

That might take a cultural change more than anything and then there is the question, how many like him are there that would do that.

And those two buildings weren't the old train station, they are the Gulf States/Entergy Buildings. The old station is gone. The RDA owns those buildings now and they are making long range plans to do something with them now I believe.

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Exactly, but you aren't going from downtown NO to downtown BR on that line like people have been saying.

There is a cost to the project every time to add something new. It's not just about upgrading the old KCS RR from BR to NO and that's it.

On the NO end things are in better shape, they have local rail/trolley/bus service; but on the BR end where mass transit is way behind there is a lot that has to be done.

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BR end is behind, but the train is not going to start running tomorrow. It is projected to take 7 years to get the paperwork with the railroads, new bonnet carre spillway bridge built, trains ordered,etc. EBR has plans for streetcars and CATS. Will those thing ever happen or even work? IDK, but they are plans and the commuter rail line is designed into the FuturEBR masterplan for 2030. The earliest the train would be running would be 2022 if the funding was approved today, but more likely it will be 2025-2027. Approval of the commuter rail would also likely kick the mass transit plans into high gear.

Will those plans cost money? Yes, but they will also greatly improve the life of everyone in the city. BR drivers send an average of 42 hours/yr in traffic and BR is #2 for worst traffic in cities with less than 1,000,000 ppl. It has been proven time and time again all over the world that you can not fix congestation by just adding more traffic lanes to highways LINK. So you have to find an alternative and the only realistic alternatice for getting from BR-NOLA is a commuter train. High speed rail would have been awesome, but it would cost too much and with the current track it would only have been able to run full speed for about 5 miles and then have to slowdown again. In order to have true high speed you have to pull a California or TCR and build new tracks and that is just not feasible in the SELA corridor. Nobody is saying a commuter rail will replace the need for a loop or will be the solution for everyone, but commuter rail is needed.

To truly solve the BR congestion problem you will need a solution that is involves:
1. A complete loop with atleast 6 new lanes over the MS river
2. A commuter or high speed rail that connect to the southern suburbs and a connection to Hammond would be ideal, but a BR to Gonzalez is absolutely need due to the population shift from EBR to AP.
3. I-49 completed
4. I-10 expanded to 3 lanes to atleast Gonzalez and I-12 expanded to atleast Livingston
5. A much improved CATS
6. Streetcar/BRT routes along the major surface streets inside the city.
7. Upgraded and syncronized traffic signals and better systems to warn drivers of traffic conditions. Luckily there are apps like WAZE that can supplement roadside signs.
8. Louisiana drivers actually learning how to f**king drive.

How much would it help if people didn't have to leave the parish to go to school? What if SG became viable and people could fill in the undeveloped parts of the parish, stay closer to their jobs, and not have to drive so far back and forth?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Yea, I know wrong place to post this, but it is part of the problem and we all know it. Traffic when school is in is much worse than when it's summer.

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How much would it help if people didn't have to leave the parish to go to school? What if SG became viable and people could fill in the undeveloped parts of the parish, stay closer to their jobs, and not have to drive so far back and forth?

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Well if St. George ever becomes a real thing and has schools and keeps ppl in town then they could add a station there. They estimate that a station will cost $1.5 million because most commuter rail stations are not Grand Central station or Union terminal in NOLA. Most are a covered with a platform, a ticket office with restrooms and vending machines, and a few personel to sell tickets and security.

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Yea, I know wrong place to post this, but it is part of the problem and we all know it. Traffic when school is in is much worse than when it's summer.

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There are severl reasons of BR congestion.
1. BR and Louisiana drivers are retarded.
2. 30-50 years of building in the east and south EBR with no plan for the future or traffic grid. There is very little surface street alternatives to the interstates.
3. Some dumbass decided to make a cross-country interstate one damn lane coming off the new bridge.
4. No alternatives to car. CATS is a downright disaster so even if ppl wanted to take the bus it is not a viable option. Improving CATS will be necessary if the commuter rail has a shot, but like I said they have an estimated 7 years from the date the rail plan is implemented to fix it and they thnk it will take 3-5 years to finalize the plan and get it passed. So hopefully they can improve CATS in the 10-12 years needed to get the train up and running, but they probably won't.

I don't understand the hate for trains? I wish there was one from Atlanta to Dallas. I would love to be able to hop on a train in Monroe go see a Braves game and ride back that night.

I hate driving especially in places with dumb arse drivers and speed traps like South La.

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Even if you took the whole trip it would cost $20/day plus whatever bus, streetcar or cab/uber fare you need.

I could drive a truck by myself everyday for the same price, and a car for cheaper.

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I would love to see you do this. Even the IRS mileage rate for chairty is .14, making it more than $20.

FYI, I have done Pville to NOLA for about 4 years total. You have to think of more than just gas.