... politicians of both parties saying that people don't ride trains. Now, if it's federal dollars that is a different matter...
I wouldn't expect much to happen on intercity rail, besides studies, until after (a) Central Corridor opens, (b) Amtrak moves to SPUD, © SW LRT routing is settled, (d) SW LRT is funded, (d) Bottineau LRT is funded, because those are *all*, by consensus, higher priorities. ...
Well, nothing succeeds like success.
The Central Corridor will open soon, and St Paul Union Depot
connection, and they'll be successes. Don't know about
funding the other priorities.
But if we're allowing ourselves to wish a bit and look over
the horizon too, one more on the to-do list is to extend
the Northstar to St Cloud as originally intended, and fix up
the tracks out there to speed up the Empire Builder and
any to-be-extended Hiawatha trains.
Second, get North Dakota in on the deal. A few years back
N.D. up and paid dues to the Midwest Rail group, and it
makes sense. A better connection to the Twin Cities and
then to Chicago would be a big deal out there.
Last year Fargo got 20,300 riders on trains scheduled to
depart in the middle of the night -- while Grand Forks,
under the same conditions, got another 20,300. (That
Fargo figure is no doubt due in part to the 40,000
students in Moorhead, MN, home of Minnesota State.)
I'd reckon that an EB schedule +5 from the current time
could have a train leaving Grand Forks about 6 a.m.,
Fargo then at 7:15 a.m., departing St Paul a little after
lunch, and arriving Chicago by 10 p.m. could
double
those figures from N.D., with robust numbers out of
St Cloud, St Paul, and down the line.
Try that schedule -5 hours earlier than the Builder, heading
WB, so leave Chicago about 9 a.m, into St Paul at 5:30 p.m.,
to Fargo at 10:30, and Grand Forks at midnight.
Yeah, I know a few problems: The freight host will not
want to be bothered with a second frequency. What
Repub states wanted to do with trains is now different
from what they wanted to do before President Obama won
the White House got identified with trains, so N.D. may
now have zero interest. Amtrak has little or no spare
equipment for for some years ahead, and this plan
would require two sets. Somebody will need to cover
operating losses. Etc.
But maybe the plan could pick up a few more votes in
the Minnesota Legislature, if the planned expansion
can get good numbers in a budget.