All aboard: Is passenger train service coming to a Louisiana city near you?

Louisiana is rich in passenger train lore with its City of New Orleans locomotive the subject of the iconic 1971 song recorded by written and first recorded by Steve Goodman and later covered by Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson.

But Amtrak's City of New Orleans and Sunset Limited trains quickly exit Louisiana after stops in Hammond, Lafayette, Lake Charles, New Iberia and Schriever in Terrebonne Parish for long-distance destinations like Chicago and Los Angeles.

So Louisiana lawmakers and Gov. John Bel Edwards are making a bid to expand passenger rail in the state with a Baton Rouge to New Orleans line and another rolling across the Interstate 20 corridor with Shreveport, Monroe and even Delhi as hubs.

Democratic New Orleans' state Sen. Gary Carter's Senate Bill 467, signed by Edwards, requires the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to set the stage by initiating engineering, financial and other studies to expand passenger rail service.

Lawmakers backed the new law up with a $12 million appropriation dedicated to the Baton Rouge-New Orleans leg and $10 million toward the Interstate 20 corridor.

"These expansions are vitally important to connect communities and people to jobs and opportunities," Carter said in an interview with USA Today Network.

Though the state's first steps toward expansion are important ones, transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson conceded many more symbolic cars must be connected and rail spikes driven before more people are riding the rails in Louisiana.

First, Kansas City Southern's sale to Canadian Pacific Railway must be approved by federal regulators, which the companies expect to happen in January 2023.

Then Canadian Pacific has to agree to reach a deal with America's passenger rail company Amtrak to use Canadian Pacific's tracks. Amtrak must then dedicate trains and the state would have to build passenger platforms at strategic locations.

"I'd say the very best case to see the first new passenger service would be the third quarter of 2023," Wilson said.

But Wilson said that could be an ideal start date for the Baton Rouge line as the capital city's already gridlocked Interstate 10 promises to become almost unbearable when it narrows to two lanes in 2024 for long-term improvements.

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Along the Interstate 20 corridor, Amtrak already operates lines, but they end abruptly in Longview, Texas, to the west and Meridian, Miss., to the east.

"This would fill in a critical gap that connects us with Dallas and Atlanta," said Democratic Delhi state Rep. Francis Thompson.

Thompson and Republican Monroe Rep. Michael Echols convinced Carter to add the northern corridor to his bill and the governor to support the funding.

"This would connect us to the East Coast and West Coast and create hubs of economic activity in Monroe and Shreveport," Echols said.

Edwards and Wilson test rode — as Kansas City Southern passengers — the Baton Rouge-New Orleans leg in April along with Canadian Pacific President Keith Creel.

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“An Amtrak line connecting Louisiana’s capital to the largest metropolitan area in the state will have immense economic benefits for both cities and the parishes in between, allowing the state to compete with other major metropolitan areas," Edwards said after that spring trip.

"Not only will this service potentially reduce the number of vehicles on the roadways which will result in less traffic congestion, but it will also connect communities through employment opportunities and allow for more transportation options for festivals, sporting events and concerts,” he said.

But at least one lawmaker believes a passenger rail expansion in Louisiana is a boondoggle and that the money appropriated this year and the funding that will follow could be spent better elsewhere.

"I think we have greater needs in this region and our state than a choo-choo train," said Republican West Monroe Sen. Stewart Cathey. "If you want to ride a train, go to the Monroe zoo.

"Passenger rail in America has not been shown to be a viable unsubsidized method or travel and transportation. I just don't see it as a wise use of the taxpayers' money."

Amtrak, of which the federal government is the majority stockholder, has never turned a profit and has shown annual operating losses of as much as $1 billion.

And though Amtrak operates on more than 21,000 miles of track, more than half of its ridership and revenue comes from the northeastern U.S. corridor, which is only 457 miles long.

But the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure act passed by Congress last year allocates $66 billion for Amtrak to invest in old and new lines, which could offset future state and local subsidies.

"Government already subsidizes transportation from ferries to air travel," Wilson said. "It makes that investment because transportation infrastructure builds economies.

"It brings energy and investment into communities that without it they wouldn't have, and that's what we believe can happen with passenger rail in Louisiana."

Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Is AmTrak train service coming to a Louisiana city near you?