Construction planned to raise 20-mile span of flood-threatened railroad tracks, bridges in Devils Lake Basin
BNSF Railway CEO Matt Rose told the North Dakota congressional delegation this week that construction will begin in the spring on the $97.4 million project along the BNSF track. Rising floodwaters in the Devils Lake Basin have threatened the rail lines and bridges near Churchs Ferry, forcing Amtrak to suspend service on its Empire Builder line earlier this year.
The entire article from the Grand Forks Herald at:
http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/224741/
$97 million just to run Amtrak through Grand Forks? My completely unlearned thought is that there is no way that BNSF’s operational savings could ever justify the resumption of through freight service compared against the construction costs and the cost of maintaining the line in the future.
Or are the current and potential (oil field?) traffic growth high enough to make this an investment in potential?
Evidently not, since the BNSF wasn’t going to do this with its own funds.
But when the taxpayers pick up 2/3 of the cost the picture changes. What would have been a terrible $97 million investment for the BNSF becomes a great $32.5 milliion investment. They get the same thing for 1/3 the cost. Merry Christmas BNSF, we’ll just put it on the credit card
This does some good things for the BNSF. It gives them significant added capacity east of Minot. Their route between St. Paul and Minot via Grand Forks, ND, which is the line in question, is 527 miles. Their current main line Between St. Paul and Minot via Willmar, ND is 495 miles. A difference of only 32 miles.
The routes share the same track between St. Paul and Fargo, ND. East of Fargo the line is primarily double track. West of the Fargo area, it’s a single track railroad. Using primarily taxpayer money the BNSF is going to upgrade a redundant line that will allow it to basically operate directional running and effectively extend its double track west from Fargo to Minot. They’ll have to accommodate one Amtrak train in both directions on the Grand Forks route, but that’s minor. They can use the added capacity to move Bakken oil and export coal to the lakehead at Duluth/Superior.
The upgrade isn’t economically viable. It’s cost outweigh its benefits. Otherwise the BNSF, which is flush with money, would have done it on their own. But the politicians were handing out taxpayer money and the BNSF just got in line.
The railroad made the correct business decision. But what’s good for the BNSF isn’t necessarily good for the country. But then, what’s another $65 million on the credit card?
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Willmar, MN isn’t on the route for traffic via the Surrey Cutoff or via Grand Forks, except when there is a need to detour. The mainline west uses the same route as Amtrak uses to Fargo.
OK, I was using a 1956 Official Guide for mileage and routing.
On page 1,075 the GN route shows 495 miles from St. Paul to Minot via Willmar, Fargo and New Rockford. On page 1,076 the GN route shows 527 miles from St. Paul to Minot via St. Cloud, Fargo and Grand Forks.
It was an error on my part not to locate Willmar, although I did check a BNSF division map to verify that I was looking at the right lines west of Fargo. I don’t think it’s a significant error. But it was an error on my part and I appreciate your correction.
The point being that the distance between St. Paul and Minot though Grand Forks is not significantly greater than the current routing.