Included in President Biden’s two trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal is funding for passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Baton Rouge Area Foundation VP John Spain said passenger rail would be perfect for professionals who commute between the two cities. They can get a bite to eat and get some work done while traveling.
“Whereas if you drove in an automobile you’d be fighting the traffic and couldn’t get anything done,” said Spain who added the rail system could come in handy for moving people out of harm’s way during hurricanes.
The proposed line would feature stops in Baton Rouge, Gonzales, LaPlace, Louis Armstrong International, and New Orleans just blocks from the Superdome. Spain says this would make it easy for residents across the region to ride the train directly into LSU or Saints games, or festivals in either city.
Spain said another big benefit of the line would be for Baton Rouge residents who need to fly out of Louis Armstrong International.
“You could go to a train station in Baton Rouge, check your baggage with TSA, in 40 minutes or so a shuttle would take you into the Louis Armstrong terminal and the cost of the train would probably be less than parking your car for one night,” said Spain.
Spain said travel from the Capital to the Crescent City would take about 45 minutes to an hour and they’d likely start with eight to ten round trips per day, and increase over the first few years. He anticipated the funding would likely be available sometime later this year and noted polls show 60-80 percent of southeast Louisiana residents support the construction of the line.
Comments