|Railroads have been active in the Crescent City for more than
170 years. The Pontchartrain Railroad opened its tracks for
business in 1831, but its locomotive was not put into service
until the following year (it initially ran on horse power). It
was one of the very first railroads to commence operations in
the United States, and it continued its run along Elysian Fields
Avenue for a century. Despite this early start, however, New
Orleans lagged behind its rival cities for decades. The city’s
commercial leaders had been making great profits from river
traffic for so many years that they saw little need to invest in
the railroads that would have opened new trade routes into the
nation’s interior.| New Orleans’ timing with respect to
railroads was wanting in at least one other instance. Although
the need for a union passenger terminal had been recognized as
early as the 1880s, such a structure did not materialize until
the second half of the twentieth century. As a result, the
present Union Passenger Terminal