new orleans public belt reporting mark nopb locale port of new orleans dates of operation 1908 present track gauge 4 ft 8 1 2 in 1 435 mm standard gauge headquarters new orleans louisiana website www.nopb.com the new orleans public belt railroad reporting mark nopb is a class iii railroad owned by the city of new orleans . it connects with six class i railroads serving the city and provides switching and haulage service . it is estimated that one third of the united states east west rail freight crosses the mississippi on the huey p. long bridge segment of the railroad . 1 new orleans public belt locomotive 2013 the impetus for the nopb came at the start of the 20th century era when multiple railroads terminating locally created both congestion at the port of new orleans and safety problems on city streets . the railroad began operation in 1908 with the intention of giving the major railroads uniform and impartial access to the port . the railroad is managed by the public belt railroad commission which also owns and maintains the huey p. long bridge . nopb covers over 160 kilometers 100 mi of track with ten locomotives . no funding is received from the city ; operating and capital expenses are covered by operating revenues . 2 3 hurricanes katrina and rita in 2005 caused an estimated 450 million in damage to nopb equipment and track . 4 at least 70 percent of the railroad s lines and interchanges were back in operation by september 2005 and 90 percent by march 2006 . 5 railroads served edit connections and interchanges are made with the following railroads bnsf railway csx transportation canadian national illinois central kansas city southern norfolk southern union pacific amtrak references edit reginald desroches phd ed . 2007 . hurricane katrina performance of transportation systems . reston va asce tclee . isbn 9780784408797 . new orleans public belt railroad . retrieved 2006 03 23 . short line railroads . union pacific railroad . retrieved 2006 03 23 . anderson ed 2005 09 30 . cost to repair roads bridges may soar . times picayune . retrieved 2006 03 23 . new orleans public belt railroad resumes regular service . marcon international inc. news . retrieved 2006 03 23 . external links edit railways portal official website v t e common carrier railroads of louisiana current akdn alm bnsf brs cgr csxt dsrr glsr ic kcs las ldrr lnw nogc nopb ns ouch tibr up retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title new orleans public belt railroad & oldid 696082051 categories louisiana railroadsswitching and terminal railroadshidden categories articles that mention track gauge 1435 mm navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 20 december 2015 at 20 18 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view