The compelling presence of Pyramid Arena greets
the Riverfront Loop rider as the trolleys swing to run southbound near
the Mississippi. Said to be the third largest pyramid in the
world, this structure hosts the city's professional basketball team
and
other sporting events, as well as concerts and so on.
Of perhaps more pertinent interest to the railfan, the Riverfront
Loop crosses over a daily-used CN track north of the sports facility.
This is a very rare case anywhere in the country that an urban rail route of any kind crosses an Amtrak route at grade. The
southbound City of New Orleans is scheduled to come along the rails
to the left early in the morning. Six days a week the trolley
is operating at that hour. The northbound passenger train, to Chicago,
passes late at night, after normal trolley operation ends.
The
trolley track is protected with very prominent block signals
indicating whether the crossing is clear to pass over. |
