DM&E

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By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- If everything goes according to plan from now on, Dakota Minnesota & Eastern trains could be hauling coal from Wyoming to markets throughout the Midwest in another four years, a DM& E executive told New Ulm Lions Thursday night.

"We're assuming we're about four months away from having court challenges from the City of Rochester and western South Dakota ranchers cleared away," Lynn Anderson of Sioux Falls, S.D., vice president of marketing for Cedar Holdings, DM&E's parent company, said.

"Then, it's just a little matter of raising $2 billion to get the project up and going. We've been at this for five years now so you can see it doesn't come easy. We filed in 1998, and it took us five years to get to the point of getting STB (Surface Transportation Board) approval."

With the financing in place, then the railroad can really roll in extending its track more than 100 miles into Wyoming's coal basin and refurbishing its track between Rapid City, S.D., and Winona, Anderson explained.

"We have agreements with 90 percent of the communities our railroad goes through, and we're working on getting easements (for the new track) in western South Dakota and Wyoming.

Anderson said he felt the railroad's approach to obtaining easements out in ranch country has been a boon to the ranchers, and "they seem to appreciate the way we're doing it."

He said the railroad's easement representatives have been "very sensitive to the ranchers' concerns," and the route through those ranches have been planned to minimize the disruption and "help -- not hinder -- the ranchers' financial situation."

Turning to local concerns, Anderson said early estimates of 40 trains a day using the track were "in my dreams, probably not realistic." He said DM&E officials came up with an estimate of 37 trains a day. "We don't need all those trains to make it a viable project, but we'd like to get as much as we can."

While the railroad around Kearney, Neb., is running 115-130 trains a day, "ours won't be anything like that here," Anderson said.

Addressing local concerns about trains stopping in New Ulm and blocking traffic, particularly at the 20th South Street crossing, for long periods of time, Anderson said he didn't believe DM&E trains would interfere with local traffic like they have in the past.

"My recollection is that the trains will be well east of the city when they're changing crews and switching. Our longest trains are about 125 cars, which is about a mile or a mile and a quarter, so you shouldn't have the disruption that you have now."

Anderson said the potential for business for the railroad on that line is great.

"On balance, the Wyoming coal is the cleanest burning coal in the country. A lot of natural gas (power generation) plants were being built, but we're seeing people wanting to go back to coal. (They) can get coal out of the ground (from Wyoming's strip mines) at $5 to $6 a ton, and it's cleaner than Eastern coal that's mined at $30-$40 a ton," Anderson said.

"It's not a lot of new plants going up, but (existing) plants being retrofitted back to coal. The business we will have means our customers will get an improved railroad without having to pay for it (in freight costs)."

Anderson said DM&E officials estimate the billion-dollar project will generate about 5,000 construction jobs, and when it's built, there should be more than 1,000 permanent jobs resulting from it.

People living along the track also may see a return of passenger cars in among the freight cars.

"One of our plans is to offer limited passenger excursion service."