New Orleans streetcar lines at a temporary stop to fix Hurricane Katrina damage

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New Orleans streetcar lines at a temporary stop to fix Hurricane Katrina damage
July 7, 2009
Dallasnews.com

NEW ORLEANS – One segment of the Crescent City's famous streetcar service shut down Monday for about two months to repair damage caused by Hurricane Katrina nearly four years ago. THE LINE

[Click image for a larger version] CHERYL GERBER/Special Contributor
CHERYL GERBER/Special Contributor
The Canal Street streetcar line in New Orleans will be out of service about two months. The St. Charles Avenue and Riverfront lines are unaffected.

Buses will replace streetcars while the repairs are being done to the Canal Street line, the city's second-busiest, with 133,000 boardings in May, and a section along North Carrollton Avenue. Streetcar service will not be affected along the St. Charles Avenue line, the busiest, with nearly 220,000 passengers in May, and the Riverfront line.

THE WORK

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is footing the $2.7 million bill to replace underground electrical lines. Contractors are projecting that the work will take eight weeks, but Regional Transit Authority officials hope to finish sooner.

KATRINA DAMAGE

The August 2005 flood caused by Katrina destroyed all of the red Canal streetcars. The RTA phased in the return of service to Canal Street in April 2006, using some of the 1920s-built green Perley Thomas cars that escaped the flooding and began returning the rebuilt red cars to service in November.