Trip including governor, railroad CEOs touts partnership hinging on approval of CP-KCS merger

A decades-long effort to create a Louisiana passenger rail corridor between the state capital of Baton Rouge and New Orleans moved a step closer Wednesday when Gov. John Bel Edwards joined Amtrak, federal, and railroad officials on an inspection run along the route.

Among those joining the governor, a Democrat, were Amit Bose, Federal Railroad Administration administrator; Canadian Pacific CEO Keith Creel and his Kansas City Southern counterpart, Pat Ottensmeyer; and Amtrak President Stephen Gardner.

The 12-car KCS consist reprises colors of the route’s last scheduled passenger train, the Southern Belle, which made its final run in 1969. The event was especially significant, because attempts to conduct passenger inspection trips on the 80-mile Baton Rouge-New Orleans route had been rebuffed for more than 20 years.