Minnesota Rail Plan

Trains Magazine Passenger
1

Minnesota released its Rail Plan which available on pdf through the website at www.dot.state.mn.us.

I just wonder what the Twin Cities-Rochester-La Crosse cost and ridership would be using upgraded existing or restored lines and connections.

2

AFAIK the only proposal linking those three would be if the Chicago-Twin Cities high-speed line went that route, rather than going along the Mississippi River as Amtrak does now.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/planning/railplan/files/railplanonepager.pdf

3

Thanks for the link. Are they NOT using existing, upgraded lines?

4

I read that a new (and costly) line would be built for Twin Cities-Rochester-La Crosse. Twin Cities-Duluth seemed a little more ambivalent - perhaps the existing route would be upgraded without a lot of relocation. The map indicates a new line from near MSP to Rochester and then directly to La Crosse separate from the Albert Lea passenger route and the existing freight line to Winona.