Riverfront Trolley Only Line Running at X-Mas and other New Orleans, LA Transportation Tips

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Subway/Metro
Getting TO/AROUND: The New Orleans trolley system is probably quaint for many midwestern tourists used to smoke belching diesel bus systems. The old fashioned lone overhead wire provides clean DC to railcars running at present along the riverfront line only. I understand that the newly restored St. Charles line cars were heavily damaged by Katrina, and so only the older cars could be readied by X-mas for tourists traffic. Used to the up and down thrill of the San Francisco cable cars, the rusty trolley's didn't arouse much interest for me, except that transport this way to the Garden District and Aububon Park areas would have been nice. Unfortunatelym, that line wasn't running at the time of our visit. Unfortunately too, the riverfront line runs behind, rather than on top, the levee, so views of the water and over the French Quarter are for the most part blocked off. A new metro system for New Orleans is overdue, servicing the neighborhoods of the city, but since the city has downsized to less than two hundred thousand souls, it's hard to imagine the federal government parting with the money to build the system. This may not be so bad actually. Nagin's a hardworking mayor, but the city needs to regrow slowing and hopefully rediscover the potential for fast water transport, which, unlike in Bangkok and Venice, are sadly lacking in New Orleans. A future combined rail and water transport hub at the foot of Canal would be great place to disembark from the boat to the downtown metroline.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.neworleansonline.com/guide/transportati

'Mode': TO
Category: Ship/Boat
Getting TO/AROUND: New Orleans is the second largest port in the USA, so it didn't surprise me that when I spied operations continuing at the docks downriver from the city. New Orleans certainly must handle most of the grain transfer from Midwest barges sailing south into the world's ocean distribution system. So, if port operations were reduced, deliveries of foods to factories and nations abroad could be a serious economic disturbance. Besides the bino view of the port, I also noticed a line up of barges on the Mississippi and a grain transfer to sea going bulk cargo vessels, similar to the ones that come to port in my hometown of Stockton, CA. But, several ships were being serviced at once. I didn't spy the container operations, but I assume that New Orleans also brings in its share of Chinese goods via the Panama Canal, transferring them to trains destine north toward St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, and elsewhere in the south and midwest.

Leave a Comment