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Plans for bettering a local train station are slowly moving forward, as railroad officials assess community support for existing passenger rail service and determine the degree of investment required.
A new step in the process occurred last Thursday, when inspectors with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad company, which owns tracks, track beds and structures on a massive transcontinental network that includes Louisiana, and the Schriever train station near the junction of La. Highway 24 and La. Highway 20 performed a site survey.
“This is part of an assessment of all BNSF locations in Louisiana,” said Ken Schoenborn, BNSF’s senior manager for passenger operations.
Freight lines primarily utilize the tracks, but Amtrak runs a limited schedule of passenger trains that stop in Schriever, as part of its Sunset Limited service between New Orleans and Los Angeles.
Although parish government representation was not required for the audit, Terrebonne Parish Council chairwoman Beryl Amedee and senior planner Christopher Pulaski joined railroad officials and spoke with them outside the trackside BNSF building that adjoins the platform.
Amedee is bullish about the future of rail interaction with the parish, and the concept of multi-model transportation – connecting various systems like rail and bus – as Terrebonne moves ahead.
She has reported back to fellow council members on her studies of the issue.
Rail officials are trying to determine if they want to upgrade by adding restrooms, an actual waiting room or other amenities to the Schriever station. The existing building at the train stop is a private BNSF structure used for maintenance and other operations.
Pulaski said the potential of an Amtrak upgrade could fit nicely into the parish’s plans for better connections. He also noted that coordination with tourism goals might come into play.
“At some point in time after Amtrak and BNSF decide what they are going to do, we can bring in the Convention and Visitors Bureau for potential involvement,” Pulaski said.
Bruce Mullins, Amtrak’s district manager for stations in Louisiana said his railroad operates over BNSF’s track and pays for the right to do so.
He confirmed that nearly 2,000 passengers have utilized the Schriever station this year, without benefit of a ticket window, restrooms or a place to wait or trains other than the sparse existing platform. It is possible, Mullins said, that Amtrak might in the future pay BNSF for expanded use of the site by its passengers, whose numbers have grown since Greyhound dropped its bus service to Terrebonne years ago.
“When there are negotiated changes in the property sometimes there is a change in how we do things,” Mullins said. “Sometimes Amtrak will pitch in. Anytime in any community, if the community is on board about making a change, it will be possible for it to come about.”
Terrebonne Parish Council chairwoman Beryl Amedee and senior planner Christopher Pulaski speak with BNSF railroad inspectors during a site assessment of the Schriever train station, for which a facelift to better accommodate Amtrak passengers is planned.
