Cambridge Rail

Read Steve Raukar’s (president of the Minneapolis-Duluth/Superior Passenger Rail Alliance and a St. Louis County Commissioner) indignant rebuttal to arguments made by Phil Krinkie (Taxpayers’ League of Minnesota) that the proposed Northern Lights Express (NLX) high-speed passenger rail line between Minneapolis and Duluth is the “train to nowhere.”

Krinkie’s major points:

• Proponents of the Northern Lights Express incorrectly believe
  that success on a light-rail line between downtown Minneapolis and the
  airport will translate into success for an 150-mile high-speed
  passenger line between downtown Minneapolis and Duluth.
• Generous federal funding (80 percent) and congressional support from Rep. Jim Oberstar are the only major reasons for the line
• There will be no transportation alternatives upon reaching Duluth and riders will be stranded
• The Northern Lights Express is the brainchild of county
  commissioners that stand to benefit from the line going through their
  districts
• A trip to Duluth will take longer on the train than it does by car

Raukar’s major points:

• Rail infrasturcture is much cheaper than highway construction
• Trains will relieve traffic congestion
• A multi-modal station in Duluth won’t leave arriving passengers stranded
• The high-speed train will shave 30 minutes off normal driving time (making it a 2-hour trip, one way)
• Commuters will have productive time on the train
• The train will inspire development along its route

I’ll share my thoughts on this later — I’m off to work.

Tidbit: Mike Spack of Spack Consulting noted:

There was a strong correlation between gas prices and the amount of time people spent traveling in Las Vegas, Miami, and Atlanta.  People drove less in those metro areas as gas prices went up.  Curiously, there is zero correlation between gas prices and the amount of time
people spent traveling in the Twin Cities.

Mike’s an engineer, but I’m guessing that people still find driving more convenient in the Twin Cities than other forms of travel — or other forms of travel are unavailable. In other words, cost isn’t the primary “driver.”

The designers of the Northern Lights Express are paying attention to the convenience factor, too. The train has to compete with autos by running equivalent distances in shorter times, at less cost. They also have to make runs at an ideal frequency to make it convenient.