Safety and rehabilitation are the focus on two lines in Louisiana
Written by RT&S Staff
KCS’s second bridge span will speed movement of freight between the U.S. and Mexico.
File photo
The New Orleans & Gulf Coast Railway is going to use money from the U.S. DOT’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement Grant (CRISI) for safety upgrades and rehabilitation.
The short-liner received just over $8 million in grant money, which will be matched by the Rio Grande Pacific Corporation. The NOGC is a subsidiary of the Rio Grande. The money will help improve a 32-mile railroad based in Belle Chasse, La.
Projects on the hit list include the rehabilitation of two moveable, vertical-lift bridges over the Intercoastal Waterway and Harvey Canal, the replacement of embedded rail on a road in Gretna and improving other infrastructure across the line that serves Jefferson, Orleans and Plaquemines parishes in Louisiana.
“This federal investment will enhance rail safety on the Westwego and Belle Chasse subdivision, while also stimulating the local economy and adding jobs to the area,” Tres Meyer, vice president of operations overseeing the NOGC, said in a statement.
Louisiana also will receive CRISI money to help a 157-mile rail corridor on Kansas City Southern’s Beaumont Subdivision between Frierson and Starks. Safety equipment will be added to about 20 crossings, and gates and signals at four other crossings will be replaced.
Read more articles on track maintenance.
