(rshsdepot) St. Paul, MN

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Pioneer Press.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
St. Paul / Depot left out of rail  plan


BY TIM NELSON  
Proposed line from Twin Cities to Duluth starts in Minneapolis  
A new plan to run passenger trains between Minneapolis and Duluth could dash  
St. Paul`s dream of turning the downtown Union Depot into a transit hub, 
Ramsey  County officials said Tuesday.  
As proposed, the Minneapolis-Duluth line would angle through Coon Rapids and  
Cambridge on existing freight tracks. Anoka and St. Louis counties have 
joined  forces to study the idea.  
A route to Duluth starting in Minneapolis would be cheaper and quicker to  
build than the ``Rush Line,`` which would begin in St. Paul, proponents told the 
 Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority. The Minneapolis route also would 
qualify  for more federal funding, backers said.  
``This is the corridor that has the tracks, has the existing infrastructure  
and has the opportunity to contract with Amtrak and BNSF,`` said Elwyn  
Tinklenberg, former state transportation commissioner. ``That opportunity does  not 
exist with the Rush Line. … That`s why the studies are proceeding the way  
they are.``  
Some Ramsey County officials didn`t like what they heard.  
``This is a real threat,`` said Jan Parker, a Ramsey County commissioner from 
 New Brighton. ``I feel like they`ve done an end run around us here.``  
St. Paul and Ramsey County have teamed on a plan linking the Twin Ports and  
Minneapolis with Hastings, Chicago and points east. The county has spent $5  
million on acquisition in the area and has been promised $50 million from the  
federal government to restore Union Depot.  
The Rush Line was to be one leg of the link to Duluth, opening the  
northeastern suburbs and beyond to commuter rail service into St. Paul and the  rest of 
the Twin Cities.  
Passenger trains between Lake Superior and the Mississippi River were a key  
element of Minnesota`s transportation development, but passenger rail service  
ended in 1985 when Amtrak cut its Empire Builder trains because of a lack of  
customers. Travel had moved to the parallel Interstate 35 corridor.  
Renewing the link to Minneapolis isn`t mere parochialism, Tinklenberg said.  
Under federal law, Amtrak could return to its old rails, now a BNSF freight  
line. A 2000 study, he said, estimated it would cost only $90 million to 
upgrade  the rails to a ``Class 4`` line and buy a train allowing 80 mph passenger  
service on the old Amtrak route.  
As intercity rail service, rather than commuter service, the old route also  
is eligible for Federal Railroad Authority funding, which requires a mere 20  
percent local funding contribution, rather than the 50 percent match required 
by  the stringent Federal Transit Authority funding, which Ramsey County is 
seeking  for its Rush Line option.  
A commuter rail line between Hinckley and St. Paul also was more expensive in 
 an initial feasibility study, costing as much as $400 million just for that  
segment, according to St. Louis County lobbyist John Ongaro.  
``We`re trying to find the quickest, most cost-effective way to do this,``  
Tinklenberg said.  
But in St. Paul, county officials said they didn`t think it was a fair  
comparison and they were determined to bring as much rail infrastructure as they  
could to Ramsey County.  
``If it is seen as the Rush Line versus the Cambridge line, and you can`t get 
 both, then you`re in for a heck of a fight,`` said Ramsey County 
Commissioner  Victoria Reinhardt. 

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