Ready for rail: Route set for freight

MANKATO, Jul 04, 2009 (The Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- UNP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The passenger train that rolled out of the Mankato downtown depot Friday afternoon, heading north on a line that goes to St. Paul, was filled to capacity and then some.

Each of the 150 seats on the vintage Union Pacific passenger cars were filled, and lap-sitting babies and a handful of riders using the restroom/lounges brought the total to 162. Technically, they were riding on the Union Pacific Safety Train, there to learn a little bit about railroad- crossing safety.

But for many on board it was a free sample of a route that is being studied as a possible commuter rail line between Mankato and St. Paul or Minneapolis.

"We heard several people say, 'What a nice way to go the Twin Cities,' " said North Mankato City Councilman Billy Steiner. "... Everybody seemed to think it was a nice way to travel. It's comfortable, very comfortable."

Whether passenger rail between Mankato and the metro area would have a lasting appeal for riders is one of the things that will be studied as part of a statewide rail plan currently being developed by a task force of transportation officials, policy makers and industry officials. An initial assessment of the potential ridership on the Union Pacific line was in the middle category of demand among the various proposed routes between the Twin Cities and regional hubs.

The route, which would likely serve St. Peter, Le Sueur and southern suburbs, has more potential than some other routes because of the high number of students from the Twin Cities attending Mankato-area colleges and a relatively large number of commuters who live or work on widely separated parts of the route. The route also has the

advantage of good infrastructure that's already in place, said Mark Halverson, a local attorney who served as implementer for transportation issues in the Envision 2020 community planning effort.

" The serious work is already done -- the corridor and the railroad and the signals," Halverson said.

Seeing the route firsthand was nothing new for Halverson, a former railroad worker who rode it hundreds of times on the job.

But this is the first time he's experienced it since a major investment in new rail by Union Pacific.

" The railroad itself is in the best shape it's ever been," he said.

The signal system, designed for freight traffic, would need to be adjusted to avoid the slow and stopfilled exit from Mankato that passengers experienced Friday. The low speeds near Mankato turned a roundtrip to just north of St.

Peter into a two-hour tour.

Still, passengers made few complaints -- other than some babies and toddlers who voiced strong opposition to the stops.

"I've seen parts of this part of the country I've never seen before," said Lois Holtorf of Mankato, riding with her husband Bob.

Leaving from the old depot at Riverfront and Main, the train rolled by scrap yards, the new Riverfront Park (with a view of the Mankato Piece sculpture), quarries, the switching yards north of Highway 14 and the farms, forests and wetlands to the north.

The Holtorfs said they'd take a commuter train on day trips to the Twin Cities, and Bob Holtorf thinks it's possible enough others would feel the same way to make the route work.

"At the price of gas, maybe it would," he said.

Dorothy Stenersen, whenliving in Duluth, used the Amtrak train that once provided daily service from there to the Twin Cities.

" That was very nice, very handy for me," Stenersen said.

The return of passenger service to Mankato makes sense, Stenersen said, particularly as the population ages.

" That would be wonderful," she said. "Especially when you get older and don't drive, this would be an excellent mode of transportation."

Halverson believes it might well happen if the public gets behind the idea.

Passenger rail would always require government subsidies, but that's no different than other forms of transportation ranging from roads, to air to waterways, he said.

"I think it would have heavy ridership if that's how you define success," he said. "... In the long run, this is a good investment."

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