The two-track line off the Huey P Long Bridge joins the two-track Illinois Central (now Canadian National) line heading east at East Bridge Junction (IC MP 906.4), where there is a closed eponymous wooden tower in the vee of the junction, with the two IC tracks reducing to one just before joining with the tracks off the bridge.
The line continues east, past NOT Junction, where the connecting line to the Norfolk Southern and CSX via East City Junction departs to the east-northeast, and there are crossovers with a parallel line on the south side, which becomes a pair of tracks at MP 144.9 on that line, a location where a KCS line once left to the southeast, and extra track still splits off, leading to two more parallel tracks on the south side. The SR 3046 road bridges pass overhead, there are woods alongside to the south, and Southport Junction (MP 908.6), where the line to the City Docks turns away to the south and the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal continues east, across a flat crossing with a line northeast to KCS Junction on the former Louisiana Railway & Navigation Company..
A spur trails in from industry on the south side, the line bridges over a stream and then over drainage, a line trails in on the north side, the SR 3046 dual road bridges pass overhead (from running parallel on the north side), and that road then turns away the south side, a line curves away south, there is a divided street (US 61?) alongside to the north, a bridge over another line of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad, and signals at Johnson Road, and the line turns east-southeast past a spur southwest to the New Orleans Sewage & Water Board facility, a bridge over Hodys Canal, a bridge over Stroelitz Street, a bridge over a canal, US 61 running alongside to the north, dual highway bridges overhead, , a line trailing in on the north side, three bridges carrying I-10 across the line and then along on the south side, occasionally running overhead, signals at Carrolton Avenue, a former flat crossing with the KCS line, where the line reduces to single track, a road bridge overhead (Davis Parkway, above both I-10 and the line), a road bridge overhead (Broad Avenue, above both I-10 and the line), four highway bridges overhead carrying I-10, and a wye connector on the north side with the passenger connector to the NS and CSX lines at East City Junction, across from the Amtrak Maintenance Facility on the south side of the line.
The six-track Amtrak Maintenance Facility is on the south side of the line (locomotives at the west end, carriage sidings further east along the south side), inside a wye south of the line, used for turning the Sunset Limited, the City of New Orleans, and the Crescent Limited on the way in. South Claiborne Avenue bridges overhead at the station throat, with ramps to I-10 west, and joins with I-10 east.
The stub end New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal (MP 202.5 on the former Southern) has one east side and two dual-sided platforms, with umbrella sheds, serving five tracks (2-6), with a short stub-end platform serving two storage tracks further out on the west side, and has a 1954-built concrete depot across the stub end of the tracks, that also serves Greyhound. The seven tracks in the station reduce to one in the station throat. There are ramps for Business Route US 90 on the west side of the station. The New Orleans Superdome is on the east side of the station.