New Orleans Public Belt Railroad completes railyard expansion project

Photos courtesy Port NOLA

The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad has completed an expansion project that will further increase throughput in the New Orleans rail gateway.

The newly constructed France Road Railyard is located along the Industrial Canal in New Orleans. According to a news release, the expansion will improve efficiencies and increase NOPB’s capacity to switch, interchange and store rail cars. It can now accommodate an additional 220 storage cars.

“Increasing our storage capacity through the New Orleans freight gateway serves the dual benefit of relieving rail congestion and offering customers, railroad partners and the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) a significant competitive edge,” NOPB General Manager Tomeka Watson Bryant said in a news release. “As we look to the future, we will continue to provide safe, efficient, and environmentally sustainable rail service.”

The France Road Railyard construction is part of the $18.2 million New Orleans Gateway Rail Fluidity and Capacity Improvements Project. With this project, the NOPB also completed five new tracks and additional storage for 205 cars at the Kingfish Yard in Elmwood in 2020. It is also expanding the Claiborne Yard near the St. Claude area, projected to be finished in June 2024.

“Since the strategic alignment of the Port and NOPB in 2018, switching revenues have increased over 20%,” the news release reads. “Along with overall safety and efficiency improvements, the NOPB’s operating income has increased nearly 300%. Additionally, recent similar capital storage projects have already increased storage revenues by over $3 million annually.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $7.29 million to NOPB in 2020 as part of the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Grant to aid in funding the additional railyard space as well as the deployment of automated switching technology. The improvements have led to less emissions, reduced locomotive engine idle and improvements in safety by upgrading from manual to solar powered switches along strategic points in the network.

“This investment in increased track capacity for the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad at France Yard ensures customers can deliver materials efficiently by rail for trans-loading to export markets for years to come. This added capacity will also help support high volume, local customers that require safety stock to ensure 24/7 delivery without interruption,” David Kearney, president of The Kearney Companies, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Precision Terminal Logistics, LLC), said in the news release. “As a longtime tenant of the Port of New Orleans and a partner with NOPB, we are encouraged by this expansion, and in turn, The Kearney Companies is simultaneously investing in our own capacity at the France Road Terminal to support the growth and product movement through the Port NOLA Gateway.”

NOPB is a Class III railroad on the nation’s fourth-largest rail gateway that serves the Port of New Orleans, industries and connects directly with six class I railroads. These railroads comprise a 132,000-plus mile network of track that tie Port NOLA and the supply chain directly to every U.S. market and Canada.

NOPB’s main classification yard, Cotton Warehouse Yard, is positioned in Uptown New Orleans near the corporate headquarters. Two additional yards, Claiborne and France yards, serve downtown customers. The NOPB system also includes four storage yards: Pauline, Race St., East Bridge, and South yards.

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