Amtrak's City of New Orleans route affected by trestle fire

You’ll need a train and a bus to get from Chicago to New Orleans for at least the next week.

Amtrak passengers on the City of New Orleans train will be getting on buses for the last leg of the storied route from Chicago to the Crescent City after a trestle fire Saturday west of New Orleans.

Amtrak is providing buses between New Orleans and Jackson, Mississippi, for passengers. Buses are making intervening stops in Hammond, Louisiana, and in the Mississippi towns of McComb, Brookhaven and Hazlehurst.

Canadian National said Monday the trestle will be out of service for at least a week.

Railroad spokesman Patrick Waldron says crews are demolishing and rebuilding a span of roughly 800 feet over the Bonnet Carre Spillway west of New Orleans.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation and Waldron declined to provide an estimate of how much the damage will cost to repair.

Canadian National is rerouting freight trains through Baton Rouge.