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By Jon Tatting
jon.tatting@ecm-inc.com
An open house on the proposed Northern Lights Express (NLX) project shed more light on what’s grown to become a $615 million investment—and perhaps counting—for federal on down to local entities interested in bringing passenger rail back to the Duluth-Minneapolis corridor.
Intended for public review, the Dec. 3 event was mainly attended by local government and NLX officials who huddled around visual-friendly posterboards showing various facts, maps and timelines within the assembly hall at the new Armed Forces Reserve and Community Center in Cambridge.
Cambridge remains a desired depot station stop due to the city’s central location and proximity to the I-35 and Hwy. 169 corridors via Hwy. 95. Talk has also suggested the passenger line in Cambridge could turn into a commuter line, in part, to meet local demand for easier and more cost-efficient access to jobs in the metro area.
Station area planning is also underway in Sandstone, Hinckley and Mora. The NLX passenger line could open as early as 2012 or 2013.
Passenger rail service in Minnesota has existed for more than 100 years, and as late as 1985 such service included Cambridge between Duluth and Minneapolis, recalled Beth Bartz, a consultant under contract with the NLX team, during a brief presentation.
Pictured: Cambridge residents Bob Shogren, also a city councilman, and Father Hahn discuss the NLX high speed passenger rail line at the open house. (Photo by Jon Tatting)
However, she added, trips taking four hours and unreliable service led to decline in ridership and the former rail’s demise.
Today is different, Bartz continued, noting trains on improved tracks can travel over 150 mph with comfort, while two-hour trips from Duluth to Minneapolis can no doubt compete with the automobile.
“And it’s a very comfortable trip” with food and beverage service, Wi-Fi capabilities, and passengers can get up and move around, she added.
On either recreational or business trips, passengers can also get more done than traveling by car, said Bartz, explaining new and improved rail standards, research and community feedback suggest ridership won’t be a problem, especially in Hinckley with the casino.
However, MnDOT Project Manager Dave Christianson, who attended the open house in Cambridge, noted the state department has different ridership numbers than NLX. “It’s hard to forecast; you can’t base it on something,” he said.
While MnDOT believes ridership will involve between 400,000 and 600,000 passengers per year, NLX is forecasting between 600,000 and a million passengers a year.
Still, Christianson admitted that ridership will likely double if the price of gasoline doubles, which has been the case on the East Coast, he said.
Meanwhile, several steps now and in the near future need to be completed for the NLX line to reach the construction phase. And the future looks bright, presented Bartz, noting passenger rail will only expand where riders from Cambridge can one day expect to easily connect with other lines to such cities as Washington, D.C., Texas and California.
Project perspectives
NLX, an advocacy group for the project, says the high speed passenger rail is planned atop a double track system, mainly along the 100-mile middle two-thirds segment between Sandstone and Coon Rapids.
This plan would likely save the project millions of dollars, by omitting a second track with shared track with the BNSF freight line on the rough stretch between Sandstone and Superior as well as reconstructing a handful of bridges along that segment.
However, MnDOT recently announced it wants the two sets of tracks running the entire route. Back at the open house, Christianson justified MnDOT’s perspective noting future bridge replacement—in light of high speed passenger rail versus freight—along that stretch and the general corridor warrants attention now.
In light of the corridor’s southern end, from Coon Rapids to Minneapolis, cooperation is expected between NLX and the Northstar Commuter Rail and to the south metro area along Hiawatha Light Rail Transit as well as future light rail lines serving the Twin Cities region.
In addition, while MnDOT is recommending at least eight sets of trains to fulfill the eight daily round trips from Minneapolis to Duluth, NLX notes trains going 110 mph over 155 miles in about two hours could make more than a singe roundtrip a day.
“The two-hour schedule is their (NLX) holy grail,” said Christianson at the open house, affirming the NLX plan regarding trips per day could indeed cut the state department’s proposed cost by $140 million to $200 million.
Cost differences
Another difference between the two groups relates to the cost of the project. While NLX began with a $360 million price tag last year, their estimate now sits at $615 million.
Meanwhile, MnDOT came up with a “worst-case scenario,” said Christianson at the open house, after identifying some issues (as already mentioned in this story). The $990 million that’s been mentioned by MnDOT is its high range cost while the low range nearly matches NLX’s adjusted cost of $615 million.
Overall, MnDOT and NLX, as well as federal and local groups involved, are experiencing a positive partnership, as discussed at the NLX open house in Cambridge, yet the ability to compromise appears to be a significant factor in the days, months and years ahead.
Accomplishments
NLX was designated one of eight top priorities for development by the National Passenger Rail Study Group in December 2007.
At the same time, the NLX feasibility study was completed, which led to the project receiving $1.1 million from the Federal Railroad Administration in its first Capital Assistance Grant Program.
In addition to this amount, another $900,000 in Minnesota bonding was leveraged to begin environmental and preliminary engineering work, which is underway and anticipated to be completed by the end of 2010.
Meanwhile, the 2009 federal Omnibus Appropriations bill designated $475,000 for NLX, which has also gained $825,000 from local cities and counties within the corridor.
And $26 million in bonding for rail projects was passed in this year’s Minnesota Legislative Session.
NLX is further positioned to capture funding through the 2008 Passenger Rail Investment and improvement Act and the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Pending future accomplishments, mutual plan agreements and funding, construction on the NLX project may begin as early as 2012 with actual ridership around 2015.
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