MINNEAPOLIS - Duluthian Kay Rieck said she supports the concept of the Northern Lights Express train from Duluth to Minneapolis, but attended a public forum Wednesday seeking answers to many questions, according to the Minnepolis News Tribune.
Rieck joined about 150 inquiring citizens, UTU members and train supporters at a Minnesota Department of Transportation open house at the introduction of a statewide study into freight and passenger rail options. MnDOT said a follow-up meeting with more detail will come in October.
Members of the UTU voiced concern on who would operate the 150-mile line, which is tentatively planned to run along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks through Superior, Hinckley, Cambridge and northern Twin Cities suburbs. Previous statements from Minneapolis-Duluth/Superior Passenger Rail Alliance members said it would be privatized.
If its our tracks, we should supply the labor, said Peter Banks, a retired train operator and union member. With workers unemployed, it would be a travesty to see jobs scooped up where we have the experienced people to do it.
(Banks is a retired member of Local 832, Superior, Wisc.)
Operating the line could employ about 15 people in Duluth, estimated Rick Olson, a safety officer for the union.
(Olson is legislative representative of Local 1175, Duluth, and secretary of the state legislative board.)
Alliance member Ken Buehler downplayed those operational concerns.
With the amount of federal and state money in the total, it will be union operators right down to the car attendants, he said.
The MnDOT study is intended to research opportunities for federal funding, which could include a slice of the $8 billion of the federal stimulus package set aside for rail. Funding for the Northern Lights Express, with a tentative price tag of $500 million, is expected to be 80 percent federal and 20 percent state.
My earliest memory was boarding a train in Duluth for the Twin Cities, so it appeals to me that there might be a train that serves our modern needs, Rieck said, comparing the 1960s to now. I still question the feasibility, ridership, and have concerns on the environmental and safety issues.
After the evening meeting at the Depot in downtown Duluth, Rieck said she remained optimistic and thankful for the openness of the meeting despite a lack of specific answers.
I will want to see numbers by October, said Rieck, a retiree who travels to the Twin Cities about once a month to visit her son.
Carl Sack of Superior and Claire Kirch of Duluth questioned the fluctuating and often high cost estimates of a train ticket, which currently stands at about $36 one-way between Duluth and Minneapolis, according to a poster at the meeting.
There needs to be a heavy public subsidy to keep fares low, Sack said. It will allow more people to use it.
(This item appeared April 30, 2009, in the News Tribune. Additional information added by UTU editors.)
I still think this whole thing is a fucking pipe dream. We don't have a population center to support passenger rail between Duluth and Minneapolis. The entire reason Amtrak pulled out of here in 1985. They used to run 7 days a week, but then was cut back to running on Friday thru Sunday.
Plus, I don't wanna be the engineer on this damn thing either...
(Pete Banks was a conductor, not a train "operator".
Where BlackDog and Buckethead will retire from. Bucket, you can stay in Duluth, I'll take the counterpart in St. Paul and we can meet in Hinckley over carmel rolls at Toby's.
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Some people say I have a bad attitude. Those people are stupid.
Where BlackDog and Buckethead will retire from. Bucket, you can stay in Duluth, I'll take the counterpart in St. Paul and we can meet in Hinckley over carmel rolls at Toby's.
