As his term as governor winds down, John Bel Edwards has signed a service agreement with Amtrak to restore passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans – after a 54-year absence.
Edwards, Amtrak Chief Executive Officer Stephen Gardner and state Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Eric Kalivoda made the announcement Oct. 26 in Baton Rouge. About $50 million in state funds will be needed to jumpstart the project, along with a $200 million federal grant, officials said.
The proposal is not without its critics, who contend that it will be too costly for taxpayers and will not significantly reduce the number of car trips on Interstate 10 between the cities.
“This is an important expansion for us,” Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari told the Louisiana Record. “... We believe the South has been too underserved by Amtrak for too long.”
The target date for the passenger line to begin operations is sometime in 2027, with the full trip taking an estimated 75 to 90 minutes on trains traveling up to 79 miles per hour, according to Magliari.
Under the plan, people traveling between the two cities for business or for travel to festivals, sporting events or concerts would be encouraged to take the train rather than driving and risking late arrivals due to traffic congestion along the way, he said. The goal is to provide people with dependable service with reasonable costs, safety and adequate frequency, according to Magliari.
“An Amtrak line connecting Louisiana’s capital to the largest metropolitan area in the state will have immense economic benefits for both cities and the parishes in between,” Edwards said in a prepared statement. “Not only will this service potentially reduce the number of vehicles on the roadways which will result in less congestion, but it will also connect communities through employment opportunities …”
The proposed stops along the route include downtown Baton Rouge, Gonzales, LaPlace, New Orleans International Airport, a location in Jefferson Parish and the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. The plan is to start off with one round trip per day, with expanded trips in future years.
Magliari stressed that in addition to reducing carbon intensity, the project would allow rail passengers to spend their time constructively on the trains, allowing for use of laptops, online communications and other work-related activities during the trips.
“It’s a quirk in some ways that Baton Rouge wasn’t on the original Amtrak map,” he said, noting that the city lost passenger rail service in 1969 and Amtrak was not able to restore the route when the national passenger railroad company was established in 1971.
“Amtrak is working with states and others across the nation to have a route map that reflects where the population has grown and where people want to travel,” Amtrak’s Gardner said in a statement. “In poll after poll, here in Louisiana and nationally, when given the option to take a train rather than drive, the public wants Amtrak and passenger trains as a travel choice.”
But in an opinion piece in 2016 about a similar proposal, a former senior fellow at the nonprofit Cato Institute said a feasibility study showed the passenger rail service between the two cities would take less than 2% of cars off Interstate 10 and require subsidies of at least $44 per rail ticket.
In addition, taxpayers would have to spend $16 million annually to subsidize rail operations, Randal O’Toole said, calling the overall proposal “a boondoggle.”