Rail Investments Bring Big Results
A column by Gov. Dennis Daugaard:
During construction season it’s frustrating to wait for a pilot car when half of a two-lane highway is closed for repairs. It’s time-consuming, inconvenient and inefficient to try to move two-way vehicle traffic over a single lane.
For railroad shippers in western South Dakota, that’s exactly the current situation. Between Rapid City and Pierre, a single rail line without any large siding prevents head to head traffic from passing one another. This problem is exacerbated by the condition of the rail, which, in most places, can handle trains traveling at only 10 miles per hour.
In that 165-mile stretch, there are no sidings long enough to allow trains coming from both east and west to pass each other. That means a train leaving Rapid City must wait until a westbound train from Pierre has covered the entire distance, which often takes 16 hours or more, before beginning its run.
But that will soon change. Recently, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern (RCP&E) Railroad a $6 million TIGER grant to upgrade portions of the old DM&E track and install a siding near Philip to allow trains to pass one another. A second portion of the project replaces a length of rail near Huron.
The RCP&E is adding $4.4 million to this project and the state of South Dakota $2 million to complete the $12.4 million upgrades. Once completed, these improvements will increase operating efficiency along the entire line.
This combination of federal, state and private investments is on top of $28.4 million in rail upgrades begun during 2011, $1.75 million in 2012 and $58 million announced just last December. Beyond over $100 million in rail improvements, additional private investments have been encouraged, including a new $40 million grain terminal under construction in Kennebec, and a new $30 million grain facility now underway in Britton.
Rail investments bring big results and often lead to additional projects which directly reduce shipping costs for farmers and improve bottom lines for the men and women who drive our state’s economy. I’m excited about this latest project, and I look forward to seeing even more new investments in the coming years.
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