re: New Infrastructure Spending Plan likely means a NOLA -Baton Rouge passenger rail link

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They can build it but it will never turn a profit

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Nola-BR-Houston high speed rail would work but not BR-Nola.

I only see myself using it for Saints games and Mardi Gras. It would be a cheaper alternative to driving/parking for events

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QQ. When will I-10 finally produce revenue and pay for itself? It always seems to require maintenance, which costs the taxpayers a lot.

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Comparing a major highway that runs coast to coast and in BR alone serves over 150,000 automobiles a day with a commuter train that is hoped to carry 210,000 passengers a year is really a great argument.
I10 services south Louisiana bringing in cars, food, building materials, and tons of freight. Highways have been built and expanded for decades because they are vital to our civilization.
On the other hand passenger train service serving BR/NO shutdown because of a lack of interest.
The day we see a lack of interest on I10 is the day we can quit subsidizing it, but it’s definitely not happening any time soon.

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This wouldn’t cover the cost of a tiny fraction of the loop, and the feds are earmarking this cash specifically for railroads.

We need the new bridge. Once we can secure funding for it, we can build the route for the loop around it. The damn bridge is the hardest part. The state is getting a lot of cash for highways, so I am hoping they can at least get started on the bridge. If not, then hopefully the approaches.

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We need to take a plsy out of Huey P Long’s playbook and build a railroad bridge across the Mississippi River for a commuter train and make it extremely safe with three emergency traffic lanes on each side.

Haven't read any of this thread....Will the train start and finish in the BR & NOLA ghettos?

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Comparing a major highway that runs coast to coast and in BR alone serves over 150,000 automobiles a day with a commuter train that is hoped to carry 210,000 passengers a year is really a great argument.

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And taxpayers are about to spend over a billion just to fix a long neglected stretch of I-10 in one Louisiana city. It’s a cost to have that piece of infrastructure that benefits society. Just like levees, airports, power plants, and passenger rail lines.

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Highways have been built and expanded for decades because they are vital to our civilization

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Yet I-10 isn’t expected to generate any revenue like passenger rail. Like a levee or a spillway, its value to you and me is the societal benefit of having it in place at our disposal. Why not extend the same standard to passenger rail that would at least collect some ticketing revenue for operations?

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On the other hand passenger train service serving BR/NO shutdown because of a lack of interest.

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There is interest in the new line according to the studies citied in the media.

Real studies.

Not just random message board posters- some of which mistakenly think that refusing federal funding specially earmarked for a passenger rail line will result in addition funds for other types of infrastructure that will serve their state.

The feds want to cover the costs of starting this service. Let them. If it doesn’t catch on after a few years it can be scaled back. Trains can be stopped or relocated.

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Now it might not matter to you, but it would to others.
Consider too there is no wiggle room. If it leaves at 7:00am and arrives at 8:35am. If work starts at 9:00am you are fine. It leaves for the return trip at 5:00pm. I guess for those who work a 7 and a half hour work day with no lunch it would be great.

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Like many Americans, I’ve successfully used scheduled commuter rail service for years now. I also used other forms of transportation that adheres to a schedule - like commercial airlines for instance.

Just because your work schedule isn’t conducive to a hypothetical train schedule doesn’t mean other people will have the same issue. This isn’t a solution for everyone in South Louisiana. But they believe enough people will use it to justify the existence of a new rail line.

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We need to take a plsy out of Huey P Long’s playbook and build a railroad bridge across the Mississippi River for a commuter train and make it extremely safe with three emergency traffic lanes on each side.

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You might be onto something.

Get the rail carriers involved and try to get every imaginable piece of funding available for it. The feds even have pork programs for helping fund roads just because they include bike lanes or sidewalks. I think Highway 42 in Ascension Parish was got some funding that way.

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I think Highway 42 in Ascension Parish was got some funding that way

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And for those majestic outlook turnoffs to see picturesque Prairieville subdivisions.

Why do any project then?

Why spend money in BR to widen I10? It will only minimally help traffic? We should leave it as is. Send that money to another state.

"The commuter trains and Amtrak trains I have been on have conductors on board. No security at stations unless it was a larger hub."

I think you may be missing the point. Sure, the Amtrak commuter running through Northern VA into DC is wonderful. You don't really expect the same experience and clientele riding b/t the NOLA Amtrak station and the BR station? In reality, the experience will be closer to riding the city bus from Bullard Ave. to the CBD down Chef Highway. There's a big reason almost no professionals do that in either NOLA or BR (with rare exceptions...i.e. St. Charles Streetcar line).