13 May 2009
Editorial: Rail Plan Goes Public; Now the Hard Work Begins
Rochester Minnesota USA - As Rochester has lobbied
for inclusion in a plan connecting the Twin Cities with Chicago via high-speed passenger rail, one persistent argument
has stood in its way: "You've opposed coal trains for a decade, but you can't wait for passenger trains?"
On Tuesday, officials from the city of Rochester, Olmsted County, and the Mayo Clinic officially unveiled a proposal that, to us,
appears to be a direct response to that question. The Southern Rail Corridor plan calls for both freight and passenger trains to
bypass Rochester on a southern route that would include a terminal at the Rochester International Airport.
The exact route of the proposed bypass is unknown, but it would likely extend 48 miles from Dover to Claremont, with costs for land
acquisition and construction estimated at $325 million. Freight lines and passenger lines would be side-by-side, and
documents released Tuesday by Mayo Clinic indicate that the corridor could be operational by 2016.
We hope it happens. We encourage First District Rep. Tim Walz and Eighth District Rep. Jim Oberstar - the House Transportation
Committee chairman - to do everything in their power to make this vision become a reality. Minnesota and indeed the entire Midwest
will be well-served by having the region's foremost medical center easily accessible via passenger rail.
On Tuesday, this plan was endorsed by Walz, Gov. Pawlenty, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Walz and Klobuchar will lead the effort to obtain
federal funding for this corridor, and Pawlenty has directed the Minnesota Department of Transportation to apply for federal grants to
move the project forward.
But the path ahead is dotted with several major obstacles.
For starters, there's the Canadian Pacific Railway and its subsidiary, the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad. The railroad is
spending $12 million to upgrade 30 miles of track, including the line through Rochester. Presumably, it isn't interested in abandoning
this investment any time in the near future.
But will it need a new line anyway? Advocates for the Southern Rail Corridor argue that if Canadian Pacific extends the DM&E line
into Wyoming's Powder River Basin coal fields, then the current line in Rochester, even after its current facelift, wouldn't be able
to handle the volume of coal trains that would come our way. The new corridor would address that problem.
(We'd be remiss if we didn't at least note the irony here. To help justify the southern bypass, city officials and Mayo Clinic leaders
now must hope that the long-reviled DM&E plan will actually come to fruition.)
Mayo Clinic CEO Glenn Forbes said the clinic has "ongoing dialogue with Canadian Pacific at the highest levels," and said
the process is "totally transparent." That's good, because without cooperation from CP, this proposal will be dead before it
leaves the station.
Then there's the opposition group, Citizens Against Rochester's Bypass. Led by Kathy King, whose family farms land that could be
affected by the bypass route, this group has years of practice in pointing out the potential problems a bypass would create for
landowners. King and her backers won't stand idly by, nor should they. Their concerns deserve fair hearings.
And finally, there's the matter of expediency. We already believe Rochester has a tough sell as it tries to bring
high-speed passenger rail service here from Winona. The so-called "river route" is easier, on
paper at least. The Southern Rail Corridor would add more miles - and expensive land acquisition - to the proposed
Winona-Rochester-Twin Cities loop.
The good news is that Rochester's plan is now out there for everyone to see. It's no longer some nebulous, wishful concept. It will be
debated, praised, and assailed at every level.
It will be allowed to succeed or fail based on its merits. That's all we can ask for.
|
|
