Study on the Economic Impact of Short Line RRs in Louisiana

Chris Webster · **Joined:** Sat Aug 25, 2007 12:45 am **Posts:** 1087

In October, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development released a report that assessed the economic role and impact of short line railroads in Louisiana. The report was written by Jared J. Llorens, Ph.D., and James A. Richardson, Ph.D. of Louisiana State University's Public Administration Institute.

Here's the link to the report (PDF): National Center for Intermodal Transportation for Economic Competitiveness Final Report 527: Economic Impact Analysis of Short Line Railroads

A short excerpt of the report's abstract:

Quote:

While relatively small in scope, with 11 operators and approximately 500 miles of track, short line railroads play a significant role in supporting the state’s core economic drivers .... short line railroads account for approximately 1,821 direct and indirect jobs in the state, many of which are located in parishes with limited employment opportunities.... More importantly, short line railroads directly support the State’s leading industries (i.e., agriculture, oil and gas, etc.) which represent the major drivers of the State’s overall economy. These major industries support over 260,000 jobs in the Louisiana economy or close to 15 percent of all jobs in the state. In addition, these core industries create the opportunity for other businesses to be successful.

The report is filled with interesting facts, such as this paragraph on page 23:

Quote:

In terms of state and local tax revenue, short line rail operations also provide a substantial contribution to the state economy. The authors estimate that, on average, short line railroads in the state of Louisiana bring in approximately $44.5 million in annual revenues that generate approximately $3.5 million in state tax revenues and $2.86 million annually in local revenues. Additionally, the presence of short line rail operations reduces the need for freight transportation by truck which results in approximately $21 million in annual pavement damage savings according to outside research groups.

softwerkslex · **Posted:** Tue Jan 20, 2015 10:23 am

This may be a little off topic for preservation, but I appreciate the post. It is relevant to my research.

I suppose it could be "on topic" in terms of ways museum lines can argue their practical support of the economy.

Randy Gustafson · **Posted:** Tue Jan 20, 2015 4:29 pm

This kind of thing is not off-topic at all, and in fact, if you're serious about getting any grant funding in this era, you better be well-prepared to state your case on what the economic impact of your project will be in community dollars and jobs for your museum or excursion operation.

We've done a lot of these over the last 14 years, and it's a pretty well-honed exercise. The basic inputs are visitor numbers, visitor demographics, visitor spending and lodging patterns, operating and capital budgets. Notice I didn't say income, that has nothing to do with it - it's what gets spent, or will be spent.

There's very much standard format to follow on these, and if the organization can do the hard work (with our guidance) of the visitor surveys and demographics, it's not a particularly expensive proposition to do, either - certainly not like a full-blown feasibility study document.

Because of OPERATING BUDGETS, you'll find that even a volunteer-based organization with average visitation can have some pretty significant economic impacts. As you all know, railroads are just expensive to operate, period. When you can translate visitors + budgets = impacts and jobs, it brings you up to the same level as many of the other projects competing for public investment. It's gone from becoming an option to a standard feature of just about every study we do that involves grant funding.