A proposed rail line connecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans may be comparable to Amtrak’s most successful lines, says Scott Bernstein, president and cofounder of the Center for Neighborhood Technology. Routes that run from 80 to 170 miles tend to be best able to support themselves through fares, he says. Shorter routes, such as Amtrak’s Capitol Corridor in northern California, usually recover 75% to 80% of their operating costs through fares, compared to 30% to 40% on longer routes. A Baton Rouge–to–New Orleans route would be about 80 miles. “I think there’s a pretty good case to be made that service distance in this range is plausible,” he says. “For it to be feasible, you’d have to know that it was running frequently enough to attract the people who would want to use it.” A 2009 study indicated a Baton Rouge–to–New Orleans rail line might cost $105 million to build, while generating $186.5 million in benefits over 30 years. Critics say rail projects often cost far more than projected, without delivering the promised economic benefits. —David Jacobs
Today’s poll question: Do you think a passenger rail line connecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans would be economically feasible?
