<p>i have read in various places that the street car will be up and running by the end of this year. but i read one thing that said it wouldnt be open until late 2007 but that cant be true. Does anyone have any idea?</p>
<p>I have been having Google watch for news articles on this subject over the past few months…They have all said the end of the year.</p>
<p>I too wonder whether that is a real date…after all, the website of the N.O. Regional Transit Authority has been down for a week…but so far I have yet to see anything saying different.</p>
<p>Many other streetcars are running, but the Carrollton Station looks very much closed down, and looking at the tracks down St. Charles, it doesn’t appear as tho anything could run down them. (can’t even see the tracks in some places.) I’ve seen no work done on the tracks. I’ve heard a rumor that it wouldn’t be cost effective for them to get St. Charles running.</p>
<p>When we were there in late March we saw people installing new rails in several intersections on St Charles (yea !!) and rolling up downed wires and taking the wire away (boo !!).</p>
<p>In Wednesday’s Times-Picayune there was an update on the streetcars as part of the latest RTA Master Plan:</p>
<p>The plan calls for continuing to operate two of the RTA’s three streetcar lines: on Canal Street, including the Carrollton Avenue spur to City Park; and along the riverfront. RTA officials say it will be about a year before streetcar service is restored on St. Charles Avenue, historically the system’s busiest line. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the agency also plans to reassemble the team of local craftsmen who built the two dozen red Canal Street streetcars that were destroyed by Katrina’s floodwaters. A portion of the insurance settlement will be used to begin the project, which calls for workers to produce up to eight new streetcars per year. </p>
<p>Work began several weeks ago to repair the overhead electrical system that drives the St. Charles Avenue streetcars. Reiss said the $10 million project, being handled by Boh Bros. Construction Co., will be paid for with a federal grant.</p>