Possible HSR Between New Orleans and Baton Rouge

[York1]

A privately funded rail service has again been proposed for the New Orleans -- Baton Rouge connection.

It has been talked about and studied for years, but there seems finally to be a move to build a new service connecting the two cities.  Some of the push comes because of the new airport in New Orleans, which draws Baton Rouge traffic.

Right now the cities are connected by I-10 which is elevated for long stretches over swampy areas.  It is one of the busiest sections of highways in the U.S., and because of the long bridges, widening the highway would be cost prohibitive.

I think this will be another perfect place for a privately funded passenger rail line.  There is some mention of it being HSR, but I think that one of the selling points would be quite a few stops between the cities, making highspeed difficult.

As I said, this has been talked about for years.  Hopefully this time something will happen.

http://www.manningarchitects.com/blog_post/rail-renaissance-making-the-case-for-a-renewed-baton-rouge-to-new-orleans-intercity-passenger-rail/

 

[Overmod]

York1

There is some mention of it being HSR, but I think that one of the selling points would be quite a few stops between the cities, making highspeed difficult.

Jeez, it's about 75 miles.  Not even remotely something suitable for HSR even assuming there were sufficient demand to get quickly to and from Red Stick to justify the investment.

I'd think that using the existing railroad parallel to Rt. 30 would be almost the only sensible option, assuming you could get reasonable grade-crossing control (as usual the distance between railroad and road creates a need for jughandles or reverse seagulls on the west end of any bridges or longer underpasses).  The immediate question would be whether freight traffic poses an impediment to the perhaps large number of small trains this service would practically require to be of much use.  In fact I'd almost wonder whether a revived version of an Evans Moto-Railer using those double-deck van Hool shells, using the railroad to traverse the 'bottleneck' traffic regions but running on-road to a range of regional destinations relatively quickly once past them, would be sensible for this.

I wouldn't even shoot for PRIIA-compliant equipment as a peak speed even of 79mph would be ample -- reduction of trip time from, say, an hour to 50 minutes isn't going to be worth the civil engineering needed to accomplish it, for the number of people who would use it enough to justify the costs.

[JC UPTON]

The corridor most often discussed is th KCS (parallel to US 61)

[blue streak 1]

HrSR would seem fast enough or about 125 MPH between stations.  Of course remove all grade crossings public , private and foot.

[Deggesty]

JC UPTON

The corridor most often discussed is th KCS (parallel to US 61)

 

Yes; I know of only two railroads between Baton Rouge and New Orleans--the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley, which more or less follows some of the bends io the Mississippi, and the KCS, which is more direct.

[York1]

JC UPTON

The corridor most often discussed is th KCS (parallel to US 61) 

 

When I lived there, there was even a dream of putting an elevated track over  I-10 between the lanes.  Right after the World's Fair, one group talked of a monorail following the same path as the interstate.  

I really am not hopeful for this yet.  In all the years, it has been talked about so much, and nothing ever comes of it.

The only thing this latest idea has going for it is the belief that the new airport will draw even more people onto I-10, jamming it up even more.

[Paul of Covington]

York1

In all the years, it has been talked about so much, and nothing ever comes of it.

   Since I was a kid in New Orleans, and I am 78 years old.

[runnerdude48]

Don't hold your breath. Not a great enough distance and the population density isn't high enough to justify HSR. If the new airport does indeed increase congestion then maybe a slower speed connection may be possible at a lesser cost.

[MikeF90]

runnerdude48

Don't hold your breath. Not a great enough distance and the population density isn't high enough to justify HSR.

EXACTLY !!

Not even close .....

[York1]

runnerdude48

Don't hold your breath. Not a great enough distance and the population density isn't high enough to justify HSR. If the new airport does indeed increase congestion then maybe a slower speed connection may be possible at a lesser cost.

 

 

As several of us who live or lived there, we've been hearing about this since the early 1970s.  None of us are holding our breaths, but there is always a dim hope.

[Overmod]

runnerdude48

If the new airport does indeed increase congestion then maybe a slower speed connection may be possible at a lesser cost.

This truthfully belongs over in the Transit forum, as what it really is is an airport shuttle from Baton Rouge and New Orleans to the airport that just happens to operate service 'end to end' instead of 'both ends to the middle'. 

Whether it gets complicated by politics trying to provide mass transit for airport workers from many neighboring communities would then remain to be seen.  Memphis famously lacks any kind of rail airport shuttle because this was included as a 'reason' -- causing the prospective service to become impossibly slow and jerky, some of the construction at intermediate stations almost truly heroic for little reason, and the cost estimate to balloon to over $4 billion for a slower trip than buses would provide nearly any actual air travelers.

Someone might gainfully comment on how the Philadelphia airport shuttle has been working out; this seems to be much the sort of thing that a 'practical' service would involve, although perhaps with DMUs or the equivalent as on the Pearson service north of the border.