Hybrid rail plan announced

From my inbox comes the following from Dan Bilka. 

Hello my fellow South Dakotans!! 

Now that the Project team has released the materials, I am pleased to announce that South Dakota, for the first time in Amtrak's 52+ year history, is on a Federally-created proposed map of passenger rail service! We are now identified on the "Proposed Network of Preferred Routes." 

South Dakota: On. The. Map!!  

The Long-Distance study process has identified two routes through our state. A Twin Cities - Sioux Falls - Rapid City - Cheyenne - Denver routing and a Twin Cities - Sioux Falls - Sioux City - Omaha- Kansas City and beyond routing. It has been through no small part, the efforts of All Aboard Northwest (in the room and at the table with the FRA during the workshops) and comments submitted by South Dakotans and our friends across the nation that has gotten us to this milestone. 

The presentation from the Round 3 workshops can be seen here.

This isn't the last step, this is only the first step, to return passenger trains to our state. We'll also continue making the case for more routes, ultimately, to be included for passenger rail (here's looking at you Milbank, Aberdeen, & Lemmon). 

Given the 52+ years of South Dakota being disadvantaged by not having passenger rail, I personally believe that we (along with Wyoming) should be a top priority to get on the map with passenger rail services again. With your help, support, and vocal interest to the FRA, our state leaders and congressional delegation, we can make it happen! 

South Dakotans, and all people in our region, deserve the same freedom of mobility, economic opportunity, and quality of life that passenger rail services bring! Together, we can make it happen.  

What's next? The final round of Workshops will be held later this year after which the final report will be delivered to Congress. Once delivered, we need Congress to act on these recommendations and bring these critically needed routes into reality. Once they act on these recommendations, these proposed routes will have to go through service development planning (and likely construction activities) prior to implementation. 

We need to get our Congressional Delegation; Senator Thune, Senator Rounds, and Representative Johnson on-board with passenger rail and help ensure that we're a national priority moving forward.

Read more about this Round of workshops from our partners at Rail Passengers here and here. 

Key to note: "As for the naysayers you may have read on social media, well, they’re entitled to their opinions. But nobody should draw conclusions about whether rail expansion is worthwhile just from looking at leaked sections of a vision map. And assuming that somehow a year and a half of concentrated full-time study would NOT include thinking about track conditions, capital investment, living patterns, equipment needs, or station placement and design? Well, that’s just plain silly. The FRA team didn’t just order out for pizza last month and sit in someone’s basement to draw up a map with Magic Markers. Everyone involved knows that the next step is a broad, high-level assessment of capital needs, ridership, social and economic benefits, and stages of readiness. And that’s coming in Round Four this Spring, setting the stage for additional route-specific detailed planning later on." 

Passenger Rail is feasible for South Dakota and it's up to us to make it a reality. Yes, it may take a number of years to realize but now is the best time to start working on that! Public Comments are now open on the Round 3 Materials until March 8th. Make your voices heard! 

Dan 

 -- 

Dan Bilka 

Co-Founder & President, All Aboard Northwest 

Coordinator, Greater Northwest Passenger Rail Coalition

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A 2015 multi-modal intercity passenger rail plan proposed a route between Minneapolis and Denver that would serve just Sioux Falls in South Dakota but connect with the California Zephyr at Omaha as part of a Phase Two development. 

Mr. Bilka's expanded proposal does that and more. His maps are not entirely clear about how to use existing rail bed. Burlington Northern Santa Fe has track from Canton to Wolsey where it intersects with the Rapid City Pierre and Eastern then presumed into Pierre and Rapid City. 

My proposal for passenger rail from Minneapolis to Rapid City is a route from the Twin Cities or Mankato on the right of way owned by the Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad to Brookings and Pierre then to Rapid City then to BSNF tracks at Alliance via Crawford, Nebraska then to Cheyenne and Denver.

South Dakota rail map linked here.