Between New Orleans and the City of Carrollton runs the St. Charles Avenue street car line.The line runs eighty blocks on St. Charles Avenue from Canal Street to Carrollton Avenue. At Carrollton it turns right  and continues twenty-three additional blocks to its terminus at Claiborne Avenue.

At the end of the line the cars switch to the parallel tracks and run back to the city. The cars themselves are symmetrical front to back and designed to run equally well in either direction. They are not turned around at the end of the line, instead the conductor switches ends of the car, the electrical connecting pole is lowered in the front and raised in the back and the passenger seats are flipped so they always face forward.

Originally powered by steam locomotives, converted to a mule drawn system and finally electrified in 1893, it operated as the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad starting in 1835. The line prompted a construction boom in Carrollton and continued as the main connection between the two cities. Stops along the way included the city of Lafayette (now the Garden District and Irish Channel) about midway between the two. In 2005 it was the oldest continuously operated street railway system in the world and preserved as a National Historical Monument. The green streetcars in use on the St. Charles Avenue line were manufactured in the 1920's by Perly Thomas Car Works in High Point N.C. and lovingly maintained by workers at the Streetcar Barn on Willow St.

The line is now operated by the Regional Transit Authority. In a testament to government inefficiency, this important line has been left out of service fifteen months after Katrina damaged only the overhead catenary power system. Word is that repairs will be conducted in 2007. The streetcar barn on Willow Street was not flooded during the storm so the green cars traditionally used on the St. Charles line survived the storm with little damage. However the red cars used on the newer Canal and Riverfront lines were stored in a different barn and did flood so now must be repaired. One report suggests we'll spend nearly $1 million per car for the restoration.