Moving Rapid City railyard could speed passenger service

My proposal for passenger rail from Minneapolis to Denver is a route from the Twin Cities to Mankato on the right of way owned by the Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad to Brookings, South Dakota and Pierre then to Rapid City and to Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks at Alliance via Chadron, Nebraska then to Cheyenne, Wyoming and Denver. Service to Sioux Falls and Omaha could diverge at Florence, Minnesota but a route in the I-90 median between Sioux Falls and Rapid City should also be explored. 

Construction costs are very high for passenger rail between Minneapolis and Denver because significant track upgrades are needed especially in South Dakota. In east Rapid City, the abandoned Milwaukee Line that used to connect with Sioux Falls dead ends at the junction of SD44 and E. St. Patrick Street. The RCPE divides sending traffic north and west to Colony, Wyoming and east to Pierre. There is no intersection of the two rail beds and at this time there is no intention to secure leases for a new right of way from Colony to Gillette where passenger service could be developed in the future.

With help from a consultant Cheyenne's Metropolitan Planning Organization’s passenger rail location study has identified six potential station locations: the Union Pacific Depot in downtown Cheyenne, the Reed Avenue Corridor, an area near Old Happy Jack Road, the BNSF railyard northwest of downtown, a site next to FE Warren AFB, and along Terry Ranch Road.

Kip Harrington is Rapid City's Community Long-range Planning Manager.

“There are a lot of railroad grant programs out there available," Harrington said. "We have spoken to the railroad about it, they’re all in favor of moving the railyard, except they don’t want to pay for it. So they’re looking for some other funding opportunity, so that’s something we’ll work on once we have the recommendations from this study.” [Bill Janklow's idea of public radio]

The Railyard Relocation and Railway Configuration Study is linked here.

Learn more at Colorado Public Radio.