Join the discussion on the following article:
Federal grant funding sought for BNSF Willmar bypass project
This is a highly desirable infrastructure improvement. And somewhere down the road I hope BNSF sees the value of upgrading the Red River Valley and Western line from Wahpeton to Casselton so that some of these same trains can avoid the congestion of the Fargo-Moorhead-Dilworth complex.
Good point Mark, as someone who grew up listening to the trains rolling through Breckenridge, MN (on the other side of river from Wahpeton) it seems like their is some opportunity with RRVW as wells as Morris Sub improvements to garner some much needed capacity.
And again, Warren Buffett and BNSF have their hand out for taxpayer money. I can see taxpayer money being used for th eoverpasses and such, but not for track construction.
Philip: And that’s what much of the TIGER money, if awarded, would be used for: an overpass.
If the connecting track is built, an overpass to lift parallel US Highway 12 over the track(s) would be necessary. TIGER grants don’t usually reach the level of $50 million, so it would only be part of the total cost of the project, possibly just enough to cover that form of transportation (the highway) that was built with taxpayer money initially.
Google Maps shows no County road 55… County road 5 perhaps?
The rubber tired competition uses infrastructure paid for with public funds at less than cost. Yet somehow, we expect railroads to pay 100% of the cost of their infrastructure, pay property taxes on it to every town and school district they go through, open it up to publicly funded passenger service at less than cost, and give those passenger trains priority? I agree that they should open up the lines to passenger service and give passenger trains priority, but they should be fairly compensated for doing this. Also, to put them on a level playing field, I have no objections to using public funds for rail infrastructure as long as we keep subsidizing truck infrastructure.
This proposed long wye track would aid terminal throughput and untangle life in Willmar greatly. It would also keep the North Dakota to Oklahoma and gulf coast unit crude oil trains that travel over these two subdivisions from entering the populated areas near the Willmar yard, a real win for all. In addition, the highway grade separations would be good safety measures. There is more and more traffic on these two routes and this project is much needed. Now if BNSF would install CTC signaling on the Marshall Sub. to go along with this project and with the remote control switches they have at the long sidings on the Marshall Sub., they could finally move some serious tonnage over this route.
$50 million is a lot of money for a 2.5 mile railroad. Other commentators have suggested the highway bridges are what makes up a good bit of the price tag. Even throwing in a couple of bridges, its a lot of money. There are unanswered questions raised by this story - I’d like to know why the cost is so high. I can see why BNSF would not find it justifiable to spend so much. Will they contribute a match?
Any one out there a CE with bridge/overpass construction experience who can give an estimate of costs? I do know these things cost a lot more than people think. My back ground is in aviation, where everything is expensive.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has a good map of the proposed project if anyone is interested. http://www.dot.state.mn.us/d8/projects/willmarwye/documents/WillmarBypass31114_overview_map.pdf
I forget now when it was, but sometime within the past year or two there was an article in TRAINS which detailed costs of track construction, and mentioned that either highway or rail bridges can run $10 million to $30 million apiece, depending on the complexity of the bridge and approaches. Add in about $3 million per mile for new rail line construction, plus connections to the industrial park, and it should be evident how an estimated price tag of $50 million for this project is not unreasonable. The above article did not give any indication of how the project cost was proposed to be divided between the several partners, but with BNSF having $6 billion allocated for capital projects this year, I’m sure they are in a position to ante up more funds for this project so as to make the grant request more palatable to the fed’s.
why would BNSF pay to upgrade the Red River Valley and Western track? BN dropped that because they didn’t want to maintain it.
This makes so much cents that I’m surprised a wye wasn’t done many years ago. And instead of PTC, BNSF should of just CTC’d the Marshall sub to Sioux City. Then double track thru Sioux City to keep the trains rolling. Oops, the almost new single track Missouri river bridge at Sioux City was built before the traffic surge. I think there’s enough traffic to warrant the upgrades and keep the line fluid and growing.
ANDREW WINEGAR, Google maps is wrong. It took me a few minutes to find because of that. By looking at street view I found a sign showing 55.
Thanks for the link to the map at the Minnesota DOT. This helps explain the cost. Since trains would likely be stopped during their crew change in this segment, it is logical to assume that two or more highway overpasses would be needed. The cost probably includes adding CTC to all the affected segments.
With regard to the RRV&W, the reason is obvious…to keep a dozen or so trains out of the Fargo-Moorhead terminal, mostly grain and crude loads and empties. Remember in GN and BN days, one crew ran from Minot to Breckenridge!