NEW ORLEANS — Two short lines will each receive $1.5 million grants from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development under its Class II and III Rail Infrastructure Improvement Program, the department has announced.
The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad will receive funds toward construction of the NOPB Transloading Industrial Park in New Orleans East, while WATCO’s Louisiana Southern Railroad, a 195-mile short line, will receive fund for track, rail, and bridge upgrades between Hodge and Gibsland in north Louisiana.
“Our freight and passenger rail infrastructure needs improving if we want to continue successfully moving goods throughout the state,” department secretary Shawn D. Wilson said in a press release. “These grants will do just that: improve upgrades on the tracks of our rail infrastructure, support transloading and increase rail cars moving throughout our state and ports.”
The transloading facility will be the first join infrastructure venture between the New Orleans Public Belt, which operates 26 miles of mainline track and 75 additional miles of track, and the Port of New Orleans. The NOPB offers connections with six Class I railroads.
The Lousiana Southern handles more than 15,000 carloads annually, interchanging with the Kansas City Southern at three locations.
