New Orleans and Gulf Coast Railway
The New Orleans and Gulf Coast Railway Company (NOGC), is a former Union Pacific Railroad branch line located outside New Orleans. The NOGC is a 32-mile-long (51 km) railroad that interchanges with the UP in Westwego. The railroad serves over twenty switching and industrial customers and is the only railroad operating east of Avondale, LA on the Westbank. Predominate shipments include a variety of food products, oils, grains petroleum products, chemicals and steel products. Rio Grande Pacific Corporation maintains a 100% equity interest in this property. It is a subsidiary of the Rio Grande Pacific Company.
The Westwego-Algiers line was received from Union Pacific, but is actually an amalgamation of portions of two parallel lines constructed by Union Pacific predecessors and rivals. The line closer to the river was a Texas & Pacific route, built along the river to service the industry-rich areas between Waggaman and Algiers. The T&P was absorbed by the Missouri Pacific in 1976, which in turn was absorbed by the Union Pacific beginning in 1980, completed in 1997. Running parallel to the T&P between the same communities was another route originally built by Morgan's Louisiana & Texas Railroad, which would later become the Texas & New Orleans Railroad, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific system. When the SP was merged into the Union Pacific, this line, too, came under the control of the UP.
The Gouldsboro-Myrtle Grove line was purchased from previous shortline New Orleans Lower Coast Railroad, which was a RailTex subsidiary. The NOLR purchased the 24 mile segment from the Union Pacific in 1991. The route had been a Missouri Pacific branchline before the UP merger, but was built in 1891 by the New Orleans, Fort Jackson & Grande Isle Railroad. In 1911, this company was combined with the New Orleans Southern Railway to form the New Orleans, Southern & Grand Isle Railway, which by 1916 was sold to form the New Orleans & Lower Coast Railroad. By 1926 this last independent operation was under the control of the Missouri Pacific and later absorbed.