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By Tim Post
August 10, 2000
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RealAudio 3.0 |
People along the Northstar Corridor got a bells-and-whistles preview of commuter rail when Northstar officials gave rides on commuter rail cars similar to those that will carry commuters on the proposed Northstar Rail Line.
The 70-mile corridor is already set up for rail traffic, so supporters say it's just a matter of moving trains onto the tracks. But some people think the Northstar line is an inefficient use of money, and that it won't ever carry enough passengers.
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THE COMMUTER TRAIN SOUNDER rolled into downtown Minneapolis. Two bright blue rail cars, stood out against the surrounding brick buildings. The train represents the future of commuter rail in Minnesota, a system that someday could carry commuters from St Cloud to downtown Minneapolis.
Northstar officials say that by 2004 they hope the train will bring 5,000 people a day into Minneapolis. Opponents say the price tag for the project is too high, and that it benefits too few people.
But project manager Tim Yantos says compared to other modes of transportation, commuter rail is cheap. "The cost in 2004 numbers is about $2.9 million a mile, and people say, 'How does that compare, why don't we just build a new freeway?' If you take that 2.9 and you compare it to $40 to $60 million a mile for freeway, this makes a lot of sense," says Yantos.
The demonstration rides took place all along the corridor, in St Cloud, Elk River and) Minneapolis. Hundreds of businesspeople, politicians and media climbed onto the train. Its clean, mostly plastic interior is passenger-friendly - more room than a plane's coach section, but not quite first class.
Once the train moved out of Minneapolis, it sped along at a good clip, 80 miles an hour at times, on a trip to Anoka.
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"St. Paul runs the risk of being like the western town where the train doesn't stop."
- Rep. Alice Hausman (D-St.Paul) | |
"The railroads have been tremendously cooperative and helpful in making this possible, and it really can be done effectively and quickly, and it can provide a tremendous service," says Tinklenberg.
But Art Guzzetti, with the American Public Transportation Association, a trade organization that represents public transport companies, says the Northstar project has been on a fast track because of supporters in high places - people like Democratic Congressman Jim Oberstar , who sits on the House Transportation Committee.
Supporters like Oberstar can mean yes votes on funding decisions. Fifty percent of the $231 million price tag for the Northstar Corridor rail line would come from the federal government, 40 percent from the state and 10 percent from local rail associations. The Northstar line has promises from local governments for their share, but it needs a commitment from the state in order to pocket the federal money.
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Northstar officials will ask the state for that money this fall. DFL Representative Alice Hausman of St Paul went along for the demonstration ride. Hausman, who sits on the Legislature's Transportation Policy and Transportation Finance Committee, says she's not happy that St Paul was left out of this project.
"St. Paul runs the risk of being like the western town where the train doesn't stop," she says.
Future plans do call for the Northstar line to link with an LRT line in downtown Minneapolis. Other corridors to the south and west of Minneapolis are also possible commuter-rail destinations. But for now Northstar officials say the future of the first commuter rail line in Minnesota rests on the support of Legislators during the next session.
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