New Orleans — Canal Line Fully Open

Rail Transit Online, May 2006 

Streetcar service on the City Park Branch along Carrollton Street reopened on Apr. 2 along with the mainline on Canal Street.  At the end of March, the Regional Transportation Authority announced it would open the outer portion of the Canal Street line using power from a portable electric substation loaned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.  However, the RTA said it could not operate the branch because the complex automatic traffic signal controller at the intersection of Canal and Carrollton, damaged by Hurricane Katrina, needed to be repaired (see RTOL, Apr. 1, 2006).  But at the last minute, officials decided to assign a field supervisor to the intersection who would manually control the signals.  This arrangement will continue until spare parts for the automatic system arrive from Germany and the mechanism is repaired.  Streetcar service along Canal from the river to Crozat Street using undamaged Perley Thomas streetcars began operating last December.  .