A high-speed passenger rail line between the Twin Cities and Rochester is a Phase I project for the state. This according to a technical memorandum published by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
The following was posted on the Rochester Post-Bulletin website on Thursday, November 12. The full article is available below and here.
Rochester on state's passenger rail short list
Rochester has emerged through a state study as a high-priority stop for passenger trains.
It is, with St. Cloud, one of two cities in the state that researchers say would produce 500,000 commuter passengers per year and a ridership ratio better than one passenger per train mile. The ridership ratio forecasts a likelihood for success of a line.
Rochester also is one of three city destinations that provides rail access to more than 200,000 residents. St. Cloud and Duluth are the others.
For those and other reasons, construction of a Twin Cities-to-Rochester line was one of seven routes in the state categorized as Phase I passenger projects in a technical memorandum published by the Minnesota Department of Transportation in advance of an important policy committee meeting on Friday in St. Paul.
The memorandum concludes that a Twin Cities commuter line to Rochester is justified on its own merits.
According to the study, a Rochester route would cost more to build, but attract more riders than the rival "River Route," which passes through Winona and Red Wing.
The cost to develop the River Route was estimated at $1.14 billion, a cost that includes construction and purchase of capacity rights from freight railroads.
The 160-mile Rochester route would cost about $1.79 billion to build. It would consist entirely of new track. Annual operating and maintenance costs would be about 25 percent higher on the Rochester alignment.
Annual ridership would be 1.92 million passengers through Rochester, compared to 1.63 million along the River Route.
Neither of the two regional routes would require a public operating subsidy, the report says.
Other points raised in the technical memorandum:
• A 48-mile Rochester bypass, named the Southern Rail Corridor, requires further study.
• High-speed rail following a "greenfield" route is the only route option being considered for Rochester. A Rochester-to-Twin Cities route via Owatonna was dropped from the analysis.
• Commuter service from Rochester would produce an estimated 531,000 riders per year. The assumed service level is eight daily round-trip trains.
