(The following story by Christopher Dinsmore appeared on The Virginian-Pilot website on November 19.)
NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern Corp. has little desire for a streetcar in New Orleans. At least not for one that would cross its tracks.
The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority wants to establish a 2.9-mile streetcar line running through the French Quarter to the nearby Bywater neighborhood, but the Norfolk-based railroad is blocking the path.
Dubbed the Desire Streetcar Line, even though it follows a different route than the old line made famous by the Tennessee Williams play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” the line would be New Orleans’ fourth.
The city has been restoring its old streetcar lines for both their transportation and tourism value.
Two lines are already in operation and a third is poised to open in early 2004. The old Desire line, which traveled down Bourbon Street, stopped operating in 1948, one year after the play opened on Broadway.
But Norfolk Southern doesn’t want the streetcar line, which would follow North Rampart Street in the French Quarter and then St. Claude Avenue as it traveled into the Bywater neighborhood, to cross its tracks at Press Street.
“NS believes that light-rail trolley cars are incompatible with freight rail,” said Susan Bland, a spokeswoman for the railroad. “The physics are not favorable to light-rail trolley cars.”
Building on its reputation as the nation’s safest large railroad, Norfolk Southern has long sought to minimize the possibility of train accidents by seeking separation of roads from tracks whenever it can. It also considers passenger rail incompatible with freight rail.
“There’s nothing we value more than the safety of the people in the communities we serve,” Bland said.
In New Orleans, the railroad has said it wants either an overpass or an underpass at the already busy crossing, said Ed Bayer, manager of planning for the Regional Transit Authority. Either would add $15 million to $30 million to the streetcar line’s estimated $103 million cost, he said.
“We’re still negotiating with them,” Bayer said. “Right now we’ve got our fingers crossed that we can reach an agreement with Norfolk Southern to allow an at-grade crossing.”
The rail line there now sees an average of 30 trains a day, mostly switching movements out of the busy Oliver rail yard just 200 feet away. The intersection is sometimes blocked for 15 minutes or longer, Bland said.
Meanwhile, about 32,000 cars plus 124 buses traveling on St. Claude Avenue cross the tracks each day, Bayer said.
The crossing itself is only protected when a train approaches by flashing lights, which are routinely ignored by drivers until a train enters the intersection, Bayer said.
The transit authority has offered to install an electronic warning system and automatic crossing gates that would block the traffic, Bayer said. The streetcar line would replace the buses, he added.
“Our contention is that we can make an at-grade separation safe, safer than it is now with the buses,” Bayer said.
A bridge or an underpass would not only add to the costs, but is opposed by the neighborhood, he added. An underpass, the costliest option at $30 million, would disrupt traffic and require extensive flood mitigation in the low-lying city.
An overpass, which would cost $15 million to $20 million, would be out of character with the surrounding historic neighborhood of one-story homes.
The neighborhood around the crossing has made it clear that it would rather not have the streetcar line if it means a bridge must be built, Bayer said.
In other words, the project might not go forward if Norfolk Southern maintains its position. A draft study suggested that the line could be built in phases, with the first phase stopping three blocks short of Press Street, before it reaches Bywater.
Norfolk Southern is willing to continue talking with the city and the transit authority, Bland said.
“We will talk to them, but we do have serious concerns,” she said. “We hope an innovative solution can be found.”