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[KevinKorell]

Much has been in the media about the impact of this storm on Amtrak and the many freight railroads that serve the Gulf Coast. But what about the famed Riverfront, St. Charles, and Canal Streetcars?

It's impossible to get information at New Orleans Regional Transit Authority's website (NORTA), which has been inoperative since the storm. Businesses that had locally maintained servers have lost their internet capabilities. If you look carefully at the television footage, you can see NORTA's server doing the backstroke down Canal Street.

From what I have been able to gather from spotty news reports, the streetcars were pulled from service on Sunday, in advance of the approaching storm. It is not known yet, however, whether NORTA was able to prevent them (or their bus fleet) from being damaged when the city was flooded. Even so, with many of the streets used by the streetcars covered in water and debris, don't expect to see service on any of the three streetcar lines for some time to come, even if and when New Orleans gets back on its feet.