12/16/17

Railroad dinged for violations

Dakota Southern Railroad wants to operate between Yankton to Rapid City.
Several issues involving Dakota Southern, including a dispute with a landowner, noxious weed issues and a violation regarding hazardous materials, led to stern recommendations from the MRC board and its legal representation on Thursday. "We're sliding downhill with Dakota Southern," MRC's attorney, Ken Cotton, said. "If you guys want to operate here, you need to resolve your issues." Brule County Emergency Manager Kathryn Benton said the county was unaware Dakota Southern intended to bring hazardous material into the county until the day after the act was completed.
Read the rest here.

Building two east-west rail systems exclusively for freight in South Dakota is lunacy especially over Pierre Shale geology.

Yes, overcoming the task of building a bridge at Chamberlain across (under?) the Missouri River and over the Pierre Shale should lead to passenger service being built on the abandoned Milwaukee bed between Sioux Falls and Rapid City including access for rural communities then connect with a future line built to Colorado's rail line. It's not hard to imagine a future without passenger rail of some kind in the I-29 corridor.

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