Oh Please Oh Please Oh Please

Make it so...

Because I was running a few minutes late for work this morning, I was able to catch a local show on NPR...today's topic: restoration of rail service between Red Neck, um I mean Red Stick, and NOLA.

And, via the magic of web-casting, I managed to catch a bit more once I was settled into my cubicle.

If this article is any indication, there's an actual possibility of it happening:

Transportation officials are studying the possibility of an Amtrak passenger train route between New Orleans and Baton Rouge to help handle the flow of commuting workers following Hurricane Katrina.

Amtrak made a test run last week between Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans and a Kansas City Southern rail station in Baton Rouge to see if the route is suitable technically for passenger service.

The state is waiting to see how much of a subsidy the venture would require, and whether federal money for it is available, said Cleo Allen, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation and Development.

Stops in St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes are possible, but no decisions have been made, she said.

The state proposed a similar service in September at an estimated three-year cost of $25 million. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency instead financed a bus service called LA Swift, to shuttle residents between the two cities.

The bus service, which originates in downtown Baton Rouge with stops in Sorrento and LaPlace, has had nearly 75,000 riders since it began Oct. 31, Allen said.

But federal financing for the line is expected to end June 30. Transportation officials said it is doubtful that financing will be extended.

Passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans was discontinued in 1968.

Now, I expect a certain skew with an NPR audience, but everyone calling in was positive about the idea...and, as the online Pic noted earlier this week, rail transit would add a vital component to any emergency evacuation plan.

If rail service already existed, I sure as hell wouldn't be writing this post right now: I'd be getting ready to listen to Koko Taylor on the Blues Stage.

This one's a no-brainer, folks: it'd cut down on traffic congestion, it would, for those of us who like to enjoy the city when we visit, be "the ultimate designated driver," as one caller put it, and it might even provide the Gret Stet's second city (regardless of the numbers, BR will ALWAYS, at best, be a 'second city' to NOLA) with a bit of ancillary tourism. This one is win-win...which means I'm not holding my breath. But it'd be nice...