Good news for Devils Lake track raise

[anir dendroica]

U.S. Sens. Kent Conrad and John Hoeven says BNSF Railway and Amtrak each have pledged to pay one-third of the cost of saving track threatened by flooding in northeast North Dakota.
The senators say the state's congressional delegation will continue working with Gov. Jack Dalrymple to secure the remaining funding through the federal government. They say the total cost of needed upgrades in the Devils Lake region is more than $97 million.

http://www.khq.com/Global/story.asp?S=14913265

 

[had8ley]

Now we're talking...they did it for the Great Salt Lake so this is a good thing!

 

[Tumbleweed]

That is really good news.....Now if the feds cooperate.......

 

[NE933]

That is really good news.....Now if the feds cooperate.......

Even better, this is a nice little shoehorn in the door in which to lay ground to ask for Superliner III money.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Personally I believe Amtrak should only pay whatever percentage of the total traffic they represent. Anything more than that and it starts sounding like a taxpayer subsidy to BNSF.

 

[Mackensen]

Personally I believe Amtrak should only pay whatever percentage of the total traffic they represent. Anything more than that and it starts sounding like a taxpayer subsidy to BNSF.

For the Devils Lake sub I think that would be pretty close to 100%, so this is a definite bargain.

 

[bretton88]

Personally I believe Amtrak should only pay whatever percentage of the total traffic they represent. Anything more than that and it starts sounding like a taxpayer subsidy to BNSF.

That would be about 100%. So this is a steal. Especially since BNSF initially said they'd prefer to abandon the line, so they'd pay nothing.

 

[Exiled in Express]

So how long will this fix take once funding is in place? North Dakota is running a budget surplus so they could fund it and seek the fereral reimbursement later if they were really eager.

 

[printman2000]

Amtrak has $32 million laying around?

 

[bretton88]

Amtrak has $32 million laying around?

Yup. They'll use the savings from not having to maintain the SWC Raton line at 10 million/year

 

[Ispolkom]

So how long will this fix take once funding is in place? North Dakota is running a budget surplus so they could fund it and seek the fereral reimbursement later if they were really eager.

I'm sure they aren't that eager. Better to have the promise to reimburse in hand, than to expect the deficit-ridden federal government to bail out the surplus-running state government.

Even though I travel over this route frequently, it's hard for me to see that this is the best way for Amtrak to spend $32 million, to fix a problem for 2 trains. How many Viewliners would that buy?

 

[jis]

Amtrak has $32 million laying around?

Over a couple of years? Probably.

 

[busboy]

If it's that important to North Dakota, let the state pick up the tab. The Federal government is completely broke.

Every penny of revenue the feds take in goes for medicare, social security, and interest on the debt. Everything else is borrowed.

 

[GlobalistPotato]

Glad to hear that they've reached an agreement on this! Some actually good news...

 

[Devil's Advocate]

That would be about 100%. So this is a steal. Especially since BNSF initially said they'd prefer to abandon the line, so they'd pay nothing.

Talk is cheap. Track upgrades are expensive. I remember reading that this was most likely a bluff on BNSF's part and that recent complications with shoving everything through their alternative routing had forced BNSF's hand and made it clear they needed this upgrade as much as anyone, if not more so.

 

[Ryan]

Every penny of revenue the feds take in goes for medicare, social security, and interest on the debt. Everything else is borrowed.

False.

In FY10, the Feds took in $2,162B

Social Security cost $701B. Medicare and Medicaid cost $793B. Interest on the debt cost $197. For a total of $1,691. You'd have to lump in the $700 Billion Defense department or the $660 Billion in discretionary spending for that to be true.

 

[busboy]

Every penny of revenue the feds take in goes for medicare, social security, and interest on the debt. Everything else is borrowed.

False.

In FY10, the Feds took in $2,162B

Social Security cost $701B. Medicare and Medicaid cost $793B. Interest on the debt cost $197. For a total of $1,691. You'd have to lump in the $700 Billion Defense department or the $660 Billion in discretionary spending for that to be true.

Actually, the FY2011 debt payment figures will be exponentially higher. But just to humor you, lets throw in the Defense department budget. Now anything else they spend is borrowed.

The bottom line is the Feds are broke. It would be nice if they could afford to spend $38 million to repair a track to benefit the citizens of North Dakota, but they cant. It would also be real nice if they could spend billions on lots of other wonderful and worthy projects, but they can't.

 

[Ryan]

Sure they can. If we can spend 700 Billion on the DoD then we can spend less than 1% of that on basic transportation needs, and I say that as a former Naval officers and current defense contractor.

 

[fairviewroad]

Personally I believe Amtrak should only pay whatever percentage of the total traffic they represent. Anything more than that and it starts sounding like a taxpayer subsidy to BNSF.

That would be about 100%. So this is a steal. Especially since BNSF initially said they'd prefer to abandon the line, so they'd pay nothing.

Let's see if that remains 100% if/when the fix is completed.

 

[Ispolkom]

Personally I believe Amtrak should only pay whatever percentage of the total traffic they represent. Anything more than that and it starts sounding like a taxpayer subsidy to BNSF.

That would be about 100%. So this is a steal. Especially since BNSF initially said they'd prefer to abandon the line, so they'd pay nothing.

Let's see if that remains 100% if/when the fix is completed.

Now, to be fair, I think that BNSF said they'd rather abandon the line than pay $100 million to fix this problem. They didn't say they wanted to abandon the line, full stop. That was rightly seen by other actors as an invitation to dicker.

I'll be particularly proud of my home state of North Dakota if they get the federal government to pick up the last third. After all, North Dakota is now running a healthy budget surplus, and usually lands in the top 5 states that get back more from the federal government than they pay in taxes. If in such straitened times for the federal government North Dakota can still plead poverty, I'll be impressed.

 

[mwmnp]

The press release issued by Senator Hoeven's office also made mention of a short-term fix in the works for the line.

In the short term, BNSF committed to invest $2.5 million in temporary flood protections—primarily riprap to protect against wave action—to ensure rail operations continue while work can be completed on a long-term plan to raise the track and bridges and complete other upgrades.

Meanwhile, the Grand Forks Herald article on the meeting included a quote I thought was interesting.

BNSF, which owns the tracks, has not operated through traffic with freight trains through the basin for more than a year. It has serviced grain elevators and other businesses in the region by running trains from Grand Forks and Minot and then returning to connect with trains that use the Surrey Cutoff, a BNSF line that runs diagonally across North Dakota between Fargo and Minot.
"They're definitely interested in keeping the northern line open," [Devils Lake Mayor Richard] Johnson said, explaining that the Surrey line has heavy traffic and is facing some water-related issues, too.

 

[bretton88]

I think the federal funds are coming from the Rail line Relocation and Improvement fund (RRIF). They can fund up to 7 billion dollars of track improvement for Class 1 railroads. Since it is technically a loan, the state of ND can repay the feds share over time.

FYI, Amtrak took 100 million dollars from this program in 2002, so they're no strangers to how it works.

 

[jis]

I think the federal funds are coming from the Rail line Relocation and Improvement fund (RRIF). They can fund up to 7 billion dollars of track improvement for Class 1 railroads. Since it is technically a loan, the state of ND can repay the feds share over time.

FYI, Amtrak took 100 million dollars from this program in 2002, so they're no strangers to how it works.

Amtrak is apparently also borrowing many hundred million dolalrs from it to fund rolling stock purchases at present.

 

[anir dendroica]

I have to wonder about the 15-day disruption of EB service that conveniently ended right after the meeting. Amtrak could have run on the Surrey detour, but perhaps they calculated that cancellation would inspire action on the part of politicians??

If that's true, it was a good move on their part, but unfortunate for anyone scheduled to travel the EB in the first half of June.

Mark

 

[Ispolkom]

Maybe, but don't forget that along with flooding and slow orders on the Surrey cutoff there was also the landslide in Idaho and those autoracks derailing near Gassman Coulee.