Baton Rouge – NOLa commuter train gets knocked off the track

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

Just over a week ago, Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern jointly filed a railroad control application with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) to create Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). They describe it as “the only single-line railroad linking the United States, Mexico and Canada,” yet the application remained silent as to whether CP will honor its pre-merger promise to create Baton Rouge to New Orleans passenger rail service.

On August 31, 2021, Canadian Pacific beat rival Canadian National to obtain initial STB approval due to antitrust concerns, even though CP’s bid of $31 billion amounted to far less than CN’s offer of $33.6 billion. STB considered that CP and KCS marriage little threat to freight rail competition, as the number five and six largest railroad companies, the smallest of the major firms possessed of track lines that overlapped almost nowhere. However, for Louisiana that CN’s overlap with KCS helped us. The need for CN to divest KCS’ parallel tracks along the Mississippi River with those owned had a very attractive element. Canadian National promised to sell or give this track line (which ran straight from New Orleans to Baton Rouge) to the State of Louisiana—for little cost —to satisfy antitrust concerns.

In other words, the Pelican State stood on the edge of finally obtaining a corridor for exclusive passenger rail service between its two largest cities and their interlinking suburbs, unobstructed by freight trains. Gov. John Bel Edwards and most of the region’s political leadership wrote letters to STB supporting CN’s bid as a result. Canadian Pacific CEO Keith Creel jumped to defend his company’s bid, amidst the LA political classes’ backing of his rival, by touting “CP’s proven track record of co-operating and operating passenger trains on its network,” in a June 24 letter to Louisiana’s Transportation Secretary Dr. Shawn Wilson.

He continued, “If [CP] were to be successful in its proposal to acquire KCS we would be supportive of working with all stakeholders to introduce passenger service between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.” If fact, Creel argued that CP would under take expense capital upgrades that would better serve a BR to NOLA route, “If we are successful (in acquiring KCS), we would be in a strong position to ensure the level of maintenance is up to a mainline standard that would efficiently support both freight and passenger operations.” Creel went on to explain that CP was “the top performing Amtrak host railroad for 5 years in a row,” and in particular, it hosts Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service on its rails. The 8-times per day commuter service between Chicago and Milwaukee is roughly the distance between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

In point of fact, last week’s merger application did state a commitment to make “capital investments in new infrastructure of more than $US 275m over the next three years to improve rail safety and capacity of the core north-south CPKC main line between the Upper Midwest and Louisiana.” However, it said little about a Louisiana passenger rail service.

The Surface Transportation Board has the power to demand, as part of the merger approval for CPKS, that the new company offer eight-times per day service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans at a cost plus 10 percent model through Amtrak, as it does elsewhere. Or the STB could cite the fact that CP currently operates—under contract— its own massive commuter services in Toronto, Montreal, and now most recently in Vancouver. The STB could instruct CPKC to do the same in Louisiana.

Reliable and frequent service—every two hrs.—would provide a market, especially if train speeds exceed 85 miles an hour. Under such a model, where the Louisiana pays costs plus a 10 percent guaranteed profit, the State would set all ticket prices, and keep all revenues. If coach class could be $8-15, with departures every two hours, a market would be created. Those low prices could be subsidized by first class services (with Wi-Fi) sold at $75-100. Since this rail line literally runs from the edge of New Orleans International Airport to near Baton Rouge’s airport, as well as connecting those respective downtowns, the first class prices are comparable to current chauffeur or airline costs.

Of course, CPKC can make far more money than a 10 percent profit by maintaining an obstruction-free freight rail route. The chances that Louisiana will be able to institute rail service along its most populous corridor may be up to the STB insisting that the newly merged CPKC keep Keith Creel’s promise.

This article originally published in the November 15, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.