South Dakota falls down on passenger rail

From my inbox.

The South Dakota Senate Stumbles

The enthusiasm from South Dakotans has been overwhelming this past year after the FRA Long-distance Service Study recommended Amtrak serve the Mount Rushmore state for the first time in its nearly 54 year history!

Regrettably, earlier this week the South Dakota Senate voted down House Concurrent Resolution 6008 on the Senate floor Monday 18-17. This comes after it passed the House Transportation Committee 13-0, House Floor vote, and Senate Transportation Committee 6-0 (with one absence).

The following statement was made during the Senate floor debate: “I did some research on Amtrak. Sometimes, you can get 90% funding for that, which is great, I think we heard that. However, they’ve done this in other states and they’ve measured that it costs almost $100,000,000 per mile of line. That’s a big number, even if you take the 90% for federal coverage, that’s $10 million per mile to put a passenger rail service in.”

Questions remain where these cost examples were found or what led them to worry about “eminent domain” being needed to bring Amtrak to the State. 

South Dakota Amtrak Facts, FRA Long-Distance Study

First, the FRA Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study was very clear that it was only evaluating existing legally-secured railroad rights-of-way for service; there would be no “Greenfield” alignments. Cost estimations for new track were limited to “New track connections to connect the end-to-end route.” In the case of the route across South Dakota, no new track connections or eminent domain would be needed for the proposed route via Pierre.

Second, it is perplexing to try and understand where the Senator found these numbers for “$100,000,000 per mile of line.”

The Denver to Minneapolis/St. Paul route referenced in HCR 6008 has an estimated total of $6,276 to $8,160 Million for the “passenger specific costs” of the entire route (with one year operations added). Over the 1,136 miles of the entire route, that works out to only about $5.5 million/mile - $7.2 million/mile. Even when considering freight “capacity related projects” that may additionally be needed, this is still considerably less than the $100 million/mile referenced during the floor debate. Additionally, there is reason to believe some of these costs are inflated from realistic estimates. The study does not include the benefits of economies of scale from overlapping segments and infrastructure such as stations that would be used for multiple services. These costs would further be reduced by using the “categorical exemption” clause the FRA can approve to remove burdensome red tape of the environmental review process. 

Nationally, costs for similar passenger rail projects can be compared. Examples include:

• The 90mph Northern Lights Express (Twin Cities to Duluth) project being developed in Minnesota has been estimated to cost up to $600 million for the 152 mile length or $3.95 Million/mile. 

• The highly-successful higher-speed $6 Billion Brightline Florida project over its 235 mile length averages out to $25 million/mile. Operating at speeds up to 125mph, this has turbocharged real estate investment around their stations, the primary motivation for their service. Brightline’s projects are considerably higher due to the higher-speeds involved, urban congestion, and using a greenfield alignment along a state highway; issues that will not impact the routes across South Dakota. Former Florida Governor and current US Senator Rick Scott was even an investor in Brightline. 

• The 2020 Washington State East-West Rail Study found that reimplementing service would only cost $6.1 Million/mile in 2025 dollars, even though the study undercounted potential ridership and benefits, and overestimated infrastructure costs.

100+mph across the South Dakota prairie? Yes please!

South Dakota Transportation Spending 

South Dakota has been spending considerable sums for other transportation projects around the state; many times exceeding the costs for passenger rail transportation. 

The state is funnelling over $1 billion dollars into roadway expansion around the Sioux Falls metropolitan area with the $210 Million, 8.7 mile, South Veterans Parkway ($24 million/mile), $49 Million 85th Street interchange project, and a further $800 million announced last September. 

West River the state is spending $72 Million rebuilding an existing 15 miles of US Highway 385 in the Black Hills ($4.8 million/mile). 

The widening of E. 10th Street in Sioux Falls and creation of the Veterans Parkway necessitated procurement of privately-held land. If the SDDOT has been able to safely and satisfactorily navigate these examples, I have every faith in their ability to assist development of passenger rail services on existing lines within our state. We owe it to our economy and further generations to ensure this investment is made for our continued prosperity. 

The continuing consolidation of the aviation industry has endangered service to many smaller airports including those in South Dakota. If it were not for Essential Air Service subsidies, Aberdeen, Watertown, and Pierre would not have public air service (about $15 million/year).

While highways and airports are important, for our interconnected transportation network, rail should also receive the same amount of support from our legislators. 

In conclusion

In conclusion, I cannot blame any of our SD Senators (or House members) for voting down this resolution. After over 50 years of deliberate exclusion by power-players in Washington D.C., it will take some time to advocate and educate our State representatives on what these services will mean for our citizens and how much they truly cost. Public citizens need to keep advocating and educating their elected officials on these matters. 

East Coast Elites trying to throw us off the map are not going to make their over-built projects any cheaper. We deserve good quality service, too. 

Expanding Amtrak to South Dakota is feasible, cost-effective, and achievable. With hard hitting leaders on the national level like Senator Thune, Senator Rounds and Representative Johnson, we can make that happen! If it were not for US Senator Francis Case, we would not have I-29 between Sioux Falls and Fargo. 

If you attend a Legislative Cracker Barrel this weekend, please consider asking your state Senator how they voted on the resolution and explain their reasoning in light of the facts laid out here.

Together, East River and West River, we can accomplish so much, including this long-need expansion of Passenger Rail service to our state. We owe it to our successors to do all in our power to make it happen!

Dan Bilka, March, 2025