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unique and unusual 

The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad is unique among the railroads of the United States in that it is a publicly owned and operated terminal switching railroad.  It is not owned or operated by the railroads with whom it connects, but rather by the community it serves; it is owned by the citizens of the City of New Orleans and operated through the Public Belt Railroad Commission. 

Created by the Commission Council of the City of New Orleans in 1904, the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad is a political subdivision of the State of Louisiana in addition to being one of nine "unattached boards and commissions" of the City of New Orleans (as provided in Article V of the City's Home Rule Charter). 

The New Orleans Public Belt is therefore both a political subdivision of the State of Louisiana and an unattached commission of the City of New Orleans.  It is not a department of the City or State, but rather a separate, autonomous (or self-governing) juridical entity.