Official: Wisconsin can sit out rail plan; Twin Cities-Chicago line still in works

Then gang members can get back and forth to avoid arrest and those who collect welfare in both states can get it all done faster.

the government's solution to one failing passenger rail service is to provide two.
incredible. Who pays the operating costs, Mr Guru Co-Manager?

don't look to me.

And people wonder why this state is running out of money.

Stop the madness! We don't want or need this. Why are state employees still working on this project?

Should've never let the railroads deteriorate in the first place.

Chances are once the economy finishes crashing not much of anyone is going to be going anywhere anyway.

We'll all be in our back yards growing potatoes and raising goats.

Amtrak Part Deux. Can hardly wait for the next post on my property tax to pay for yet another social engineering project.
What crap.

Chucker wrote:

Stop the madness! We don't want or need this. Why are state employees still working on this project?

It's a payoff to the unions for supporting Democrats. Funny how so much waste and corruption in government is tied to unions.

Another GREAT government waste...
The Northstar rail is losing money so
what do they want to do at the Fridley
station throw another $110,000 to
improve the bike trail... This is just
another goofy government IDEA!!!
The Fridley station is lucky if they ever
have more than a dozen cars sitting in the
parking lot...
I can not believe these people and
these goofy trains that nobody uses!!!

Thanks but no thanks. It'll be busy the beginning and end of the month only.

The new people in charge in Wisconsin do not wish to WASTE other people's money, but our GREEDY fools in Minnesota are sure more than happy to be the professional Wasters. We can't get people to ride the stupid trains we have, so lets build 8 more lines so we can charge 3 dollars for a 20 to 85 dollar ride. Wow are we smart!

Why don't we try a cheaper option to see if there is demand. How about expanding the once a day Amtrak service to Chicago to a couple of times a day at more realistic times. Also, show that the train can keep a schedule. If 60 years ago the train could make Chicago in 400 minutes, they should be able to do at least the same today.

i think rail puppet is a better name

Back to the future anyone?

Hey Krom, we are broke. We have no money. What is so hard to understand about that?

Just say NO!

There have been 10 posted comments ... 100% against this investment. More of Obama ignoring the electorate again.
Take this money and pay off some federal debt.

Well Progressive Minnesota, President Erkel will let you have your very cosmopolitan choo-choo and it can even travel through the rolling hills of beautiful Wisconsin. There's only one catch, you pick up Wisconsin's share of the tab. Hmmmmm.

Was anybody on it.

jeffo wrote:

Another GREAT government waste...
The Northstar rail is losing money so
what do they want to do at the Fridley
station throw another $110,000 to
improve the bike trail... This is just
another goofy government IDEA!!!
The Fridley station is lucky if they ever
have more than a dozen cars sitting in the
parking lot...
I can not believe these people and
these goofy trains that nobody uses!!!

Of course, one option would be to simply cut the losses, declare Northstar an expensive experiment in mass transit social engineering, and mothball the project while hopefully closing the book on Anoka County's failed era of "megaproject" pursuits.

Another proposed solution is the addition of more trains to Northstar's schedule. This option is a non-starter since it would require an amended track leasing agreement with Burlington Northern, something that would likely be prohibitively expensive as well as something that BNSF may not be interested in regardless of price.

The latest idea for getting Northstar off the welfare dole is yet another station stop, this one located in Ramsey. The theory is that a Ramsey station will increase ridership and therefore decrease operating subsidies while putting the ill-fated train on a path to fiscal sustainability.

The proposed station comes with a $13 million price tag, split among a
bevy of governmental partners, including the state.
Boosters claim the new station would add about 200 daily rides to the
total, a 10% increase in ridership.

I'm a wee bit skeptical that building a gleaming
new station in Ramsey is going to improve Northstar's fortunes or the
fortunes of mass transit in the Metro area.

Here's why- Start with the $13 million capital cost. Like the plan to increase the
number of trains, government is expending millions to add a marginal amount of riders.

The $13 million cost would likely be financed with government bonds with a 20-year maturity. At current interest rates, the total cost to tax payers would be about$20.5 million, excluding underwriting and other issuance fees.

If average weekday daily ridership is 200, that equals approximately
1,040,000 rides over the life of the capital bonds. That equates to a capital subsidy of about $20 per ride over the life of the bonds.

And don't forget about the operating subsidy. While increased ridership would likely marginally reduce the operating subsidy, it certainly wouldn't eliminate it.

And don't forget about the $317 million in already sunk capital costs as well. Is the expenditure of another $20.5 million justified by the additional projected ridership? Doubtful.

Perhaps that $20.5 million could be better spent improving HWY 10 through Anoka and Ramsey. Second, I'd be interested to understand how Northstar advocates arrived at their ridership estimates for a Ramsey station.

Consider the distance of the proposed station from existing stations. The Elk River station is only 7 miles away while the Anoka station is about 5 miles away. Are there really hundreds of riders who will flock to Northstar if a station is built just scant minutes away from two existing stations?

Unlikely except for one dirty trick government has up its sleeve.

Northstar officials plan to garner the lion's share of new riders from the Ramsey station by cancelling the Northstar Express bus service.

That's right, the plan is for Northstar to gain riders by kicking them off the bus!

Mike wrote:

There have been 10 posted comments ... 100% against this investment. More of Obama ignoring the electorate again.
Take this money and pay off some federal debt.

As long as you think the one-sidedness of the comments is because of the nuanced, analytical brilliance within said "like" opinions-- but my feelings is nobody is bothering to disagree with you'all for what said "like" opinions lack.

I'm going to say it again "what is the definition of High Speed Rail in this context?"

Reading that article I felt like the decision has already been made to build the line whether it's profitable or not. No disrepect to Des Moines but would the passenger volume from Des Moines be able to make up for the lost volume from Madison and Milwaukee? My guess is NO!

Wa$te! I really detest the euphorian.