Rail backers meet with Jindal aides, fail to change minds
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Backers of a push to revive passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans made a pitch for the project to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s aides but failed to change any minds.
The Jindal administration said on Aug. 21 the state was dropping possible plans to seek about $300 million in special federal aid for the rail line.
“Nothing has changed from our perspective,” Stephen Waguespack, Jindal’s deputy chief of staff, said Wednesday.
The two-hour gathering on Monday included a handful of lawmakers, Mayor-President Kip Holden, business leaders from Baton Rouge and New Orleans and other rail advocates.
Jindal’s office has said no money would be sought because it would be a waste of tax dollars.
State Rep. Michael Jackson, No Party-Baton Rouge and one of those at Monday’s gathering, said the group came away with limited options after meeting with Waguespack and Timmy Teepell, the governor’s chief of staff.
“We were hoping that the governor was going to come to the meeting,” Jackson said.
Before the effort was dropped last month state transportation officials said a proposal was being drafted in hopes of launching rail service by 2013.
They said that, if successful, the Baton Rouge-New Orleans line could have eventually been linked to any high-speed Gulf Coast rail plan.
But William Ankner, secretary for the state Transportation and Development, said in August the state could not figure out how to come up with $18 million in yearly operating costs amid continuing state budget problems.
It marked the third time since 2005 that transportation leaders have raised the possibility of a Baton Rouge-New Orleans rail line that later died.
The money would have come from $8 billion in what backers call federal stimulus dollars.
Some national commentators said at the time it would be inconsistent for Jindal, who has criticized some of the stimulus spending, to seek rail aid for Louisiana.
Waguespack noted that the $18 million in annual state costs would have been in addition to the revenue raised by a $20 per ticket cost to ride the train.
“And I assume that the number would only go up,” he said of the $18 million.
Jackson said U.S. Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, a New Orleans Republican, who had a representative at the meeting, planned to see if a request for aid could be filed by someone other than the Jindal administration or if the deadline for applications could be extended.
Cao is a member of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Helping to pay for railroad operational costs through higher property taxes along the corridor is another option, Jackson said.
“They are putting a great deal of the burden on the locals, on somebody else other than the state,” he said of Jindal’s office.
Holden’s office declined comment on Monday’s gathering.
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