FEMA to the Rescue! Now Saves RTA

Streetcars getting back on track....Feds will pay for repairs, new buses
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
By Leslie Williams
Staff writer
The candy-apple red streetcars -- trashed by Hurricane Katrina -- likely will begin reappearing on the Canal Street tracks in the summer. And hybrid buses could be added to the Regional Transit Authority's fleet.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Tuesday that it has obligated $43 million to repair the Canal line's 24 water-damaged streetcars as well as replace some of the more than 200 buses ruined by floodwaters, RTA spokeswoman Rosalind Blanco Cook said.

'We're just so excited about having the money,' Cook said. 'Now we can get to work, repairing the streetcars and ordering the buses. We plan to soon start calling back some of the craftspeople we laid off.'
The return of the red streetcars will follow the restoration of a portion of the historic St. Charles Avenue streetcar line, which has been shut down since Katrina's high winds toppled trees, shredding the overhead electrical systems that powered the streetcars.

By Christmas, Cook said, the St. Charles line's Central Business District Loop -- the curling stretch of tracks along Lee Circle, Carondelet Street, Canal Street and St. Charles Avenue -- should be up and running.
FEMA said $21.6 million of the $43 million is for streetcar repair.

The remaining $21.4 million will be spent to buy new buses to replace some of the 205 RTA buses ruined by Katrina, Cook said.

'It's a good start,' but not enough money to replace all of the buses, she said. On average, a new diesel bus sells for about $325,000 and a hybrid bus"