Passenger Trains > New Orleans Streetcar Lines Closed Due to Hotel Collapse

Several streetcar lines are closed until further notice due to the collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel under construction on the southeast corner of Canal and North Ramparts Streets. Two streetcar lines — the Canal Street and Rampart-St. Claude — meet at the Canal and North Rampart intersection, and 26 of the Regional Transit Authority's 32 bus lines normally stop there to provide transfers across the city. Workers have removed overhead streetcar electric cables at North Rampart and Canal to allow heavy equipment to get near the collapsed building.

• Streetcar service has been suspended entirely on the Riverfront and North Rampart-St. Claude lines.
• The Canal Street line is closed from South Liberty Street to the Mississippi River.

The St. Charles line remains in service. The Loyola line from Tulane to the Amtrak/Greyhound station was not mentioned but that short section of the line is isolated from the rest of the system so it may be out of service too.

Streets closed are:
Canal Street is closed at Dauphine, Burgundy, Rampart, Elk S. Liberty (riverbound.) Rampart will be closed at Bienville, Iberville, Common and Conti.
Elk is closed at Tulane and Cleveland (inbound). Basin is closed at St. Louis, Conti (inbound) and Iberville. Burgundy is closed at Iberville.

The following link is to the article listing the closures/changes to the streetcar and bus lines, and streets closed:

https://www.nola.com/news/article_08092dec-ee00-11e9-962f-678201542f24.html
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/19 16:02 by Cumbresfan.

Thanks for the info. Anyone interested in trams needs to go to New Orleans. While the Canal Street line cars are re productions, the St. Charles Line cars are all original. Perhaps I'm wrong but I thought I rode a car from Union Terminal where our PV's were parked all the way to the riverfront without a change. Looks like the hotel had some serious construction and or design flaws. 

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andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the info. Anyone interested in trams
> needs to go to New Orleans. While the Canal Street
> line cars are re productions, the St. Charles Line
> cars are all original. Perhaps I'm wrong but I
> thought I rode a car from Union Terminal where our
> PV's were parked all the way to the riverfront
> without a change. Looks like the hotel had some
> serious construction and or design flaws. 

No transfer may have been the case before the Loyola line from Union Terminal was extended along North Rampart a couple of years ago. When I visited last fall, you get off at Canal and transfer to one of their cars. In the best of times on all the lines, especially the St. Charles line being the worst, the stops and cars are very crowded. Sometimes it's best to walk to an alternate stop and wait for a car not so full.

The collapse is reminiscent of hotel/department store collapses in past years in Seoul, South Korea.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/19 16:15 by Cumbresfan.

On the video they keep showing on the news you can see the overhead bouncing from debris falling on it.
They're very worried about the damaged 320 foot tall tower crane coming down. 

If you don't like crowds, ride as early in the morning as possible or after dinner.  I heartily recommend the latter since it is magical riding the streetcars through the neighborhoods after dark.  Might even see a ghost!

-John

The line that terminates at NOUPT is rarely crowded. It doesn't hit the main tourist areas.  If you get on at the endpoint at the train station, there won't be more than a handful of other people getting on board with you, no matter what time of day.  The St Charles line is a completely different story.

As a San Francisco native, visiting New Orleans always reminds me of my childhood in SF, when it seemed we went everywhere in the city by streetcar.  The nostalgia just boils over in me....or is it just the heat?

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

swiftstream Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The line that terminates at NOUPT is rarely
> crowded. It doesn't hit the main tourist areas. 
> If you get on at the endpoint at the train
> station, there won't be more than a handful of
> other people getting on board with you, no matter
> what time of day.  The St Charles line is a
> completely different story.

True, but at Canal Street where it turns south for a block and then left onto Ramparts it becomes very crowded. As stated in the article, that very intersection next to the hotel is where 26 bus lines converge making it a zoo no matter how sparse the passenger load from NOUPT.

The crowds on St Charles line almost completely change over at the Corner of Canal and Carondelet St (Right across Canal from Bourbon Street). The trick is to go back one stop and board there then when the car gets to the Canal Street stop everyone on the car (except you) gets off and the car refills.

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