A $5.81 million federal grant announced this week will support the eventual replacement of five aging railroad bridges on the route between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The grant targets a stretch of track running through St. James and St. Charles parishes, where the bridges have as little as one year of useful life left.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy announced on Tuesday that the grant is part of a larger $8.3 million public-private partnership, with freight operator Canadian Pacific Kansas City chipping in a $2.49 million private match. According to WWL-TV, the funding flows through the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration under the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements program, and it will cover project development, final design, and construction.
The five bridges slated for replacement cross Blind River Slough, Tchackehou Bayou, Bayou La Trainase, the St. James Parish Canal, and an unnamed canal spanning the two parishes, according to Trains Magazine. The same outlet's review of local infrastructure records found that the bridges require more than $200,000 a year in routine maintenance just to keep trains moving safely over them.
A Long-Sought Passenger Line Still Waiting on Its Pieces
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy said the project is expected to improve freight rail safety while also laying groundwork for a possible passenger route, calling the grant a win for Louisiana. Per the senator, the award brings passenger rail one step closer while making freight lines safer in the process — though the grant announcement did not establish any launch timeline for passenger service, and the bridge money is being spent squarely on freight-line upgrades.
That caution matters because the freight corridor these bridges sit on is the same track Louisiana hopes will eventually carry commuters. The Southern Rail Commission has proposed an 80-mile passenger route with seven stations, including downtown Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge South, Gonzales, LaPlace, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, Jefferson Parish, and downtown New Orleans, according to the Rail Passengers Association. Transportation planners project a Baton Rouge-to-New Orleans trip would take 75 to 90 minutes, offering commuters an alternative to Interstate 10's notorious bottlenecks.
Intercity passenger rail hasn't run between the two cities since 1969 — two years before Amtrak began, per the same report. A proposed passenger route would return intercity rail service between the cities.
The High Speed Rail Alliance says CPKC's 2023 merger resulted in an agreement allowing one daily round trip of passenger service on its tracks between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, per the High Speed Rail Alliance.
In October 2023, then-Gov. John Bel Edwards and Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner signed a formal service development agreement targeting a 2027 launch, as reported by Railway Age. Earlier this month, Hoodline previewed a Baton Rouge summit where Edwards was scheduled to appear on October 22 in its Edwards-Landrieu summit preview.
The project still needs additional funding. The U.S. Department of Transportation expects the freight-side improvements funded this week to bring safety gains, lower maintenance costs, fewer disruptions, and shorter freight travel times in the meantime. WWL-TV reported it had reached out for more information on how the bridge work and any future passenger service might affect Louisiana residents along the corridor.
