SISSETON, S.D. — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposed state budget includes $6.25 million to help upgrade the Sisseton-Milbank Railroad, a 37-mile line serving a grain elevator which has deteriorated to the point that traffic can only creep along at 5 mph or less, and averages about one derailment a year.
The Mitchell Republic reports that the state funding, along with $24 million from a grant application submitted to the federal government, would allow the line to be significantly upgraded. That, says Mark Wegner, president of the Twin Cities & Western Railroad, which bought the Sisseton-Milbank in July 2012, would transform business that is “not sustainable” at the current pace.
“There’s just a ton we can do if the line is upgraded,” Wegner told the newspaper, citing traffic such as lumber and other materials that currently moves by truck, “so it’s kind of an economic development opportunity as well as an infrastructure improvement.”
The line, which currently carries grain from an elevator in Sisseton to Milbank, where it makes a short trip on BNSF to connect to the west end of the TC&W. But the short line’s track — some of which dates to 1884 — can only handle 263,000-pound cars rather than the current 286,000-pound standard, which prevents it from capturing additional business.
The state funding, if approved by the legislature, would come from a 2023 fiscal-year surplus, and would be available as soon as a decision is announced on the federal grant, which should come in spring or summer 2023.
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