New Orleans Rail Gateway program Options

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Progressive Railroading, April, 2012:

Rail's future in New Orleans

In Chicago, 10 freight and passenger railroads share or cross each other’s tracks numerous times daily throughout a convoluted network stretching hundreds of miles in and around the Windy City. To ease traffic congestion in the nation’s largest rail gateway and accommodate future growth, the railroads have partnered with federal, state and local governments to carry out the multi-phased Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program.

In New Orleans, home of the nation’s fourth-largest rail gateway, a “mini-CREATE” aims to meet many of the same goals. The New Orleans Rail Gateway program is designed to foster more efficient operations among nine railroads and expand capacity for future freight-volume growth throughout a Big Easy area that includes a 29-mile main corridor, four passenger-rail routes, more than 20 grade crossings, 13 rail yards (including six intermodal terminals) and 10 interlockings.

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