ST. PAUL, Minn. — Legislation introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives would provide $20 million for capital improvements on the state’s short lines, which face significant costs to upgrade their infrastructure, according to the bill’s sponsor.
Rep. Paul Tokelson (R-Hanska, Minn.) says the state’s 821 miles of Class II, III, and private rail lines would need about $150 million to improve their right-of-way to the standards of larger railroads. Funds for the bill would come from bond sales for the Minnesota Rail Service Improvement program, which offers grants and loans for rail projects. The most round of grant requests involved five times more money than was available.
On Thursday, the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee laid the bill over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill, according to the Minnesota House website. The bill is HF2941.
Just make sure you audit them.
How art things changed from the attitudes of the times of my parents’ youth and earlier! These sound like grants–not “loans”. But remember that the purpose of the railroad land grants was to pay for the construction of what the Canadians call Developement Railways: lines built to open up a territory which would take years if not decades for such lines to pay their own way. The business model for the early UP turned out to be “make money on the construction–and not the operation–of a railroad”. As was described at the time–the UP was an “apple tree without a limb”.
Again, how art things changed! OK, so Amtrak still is “Jobs for the Boys (unions)”. So some things don’t change.
There is great need. Minnesota short lines contribute significant carloads and help keep many small towns viable for businesses to locate there. The ability to get up to 286,000-lbs and a minimum top speed of 25 mph is critical to their ability to be assets to the state and the communities they serve well in to the future. Kudos to Rep. Tokelson for recognizing that investment in this critical infrastructure is a priority.