Dakota Rail Corridor

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
DanPatchToget
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Dakota Rail Corridor

Postby DanPatchToget » March 30th, 2016, 1:57 pm

Hello all! I've researched the possibility of regional rail on the Dakota Rail Corridor between Minneapolis and Hutchinson for some time and was wondering what you guys think.

There are currently no plans or proposals for this, with only a tiny mention in, I believe, a transportation plan from the Met Council awhile ago. With a schedule similar to Northstar it would have a projected ridership of 1,000 weekday riders. Unfortunately I can't find the link but I'm sure it's out there. Didn't go into further details and it has never been mentioned again.

The Great Northern Railway built the Hutch Spur between their secondary mainline in Wayzata to Hutchinson sometime in the 1880s. After the merger that created Burlington Northern they owned the tracks until 1985, in which it was bought by Dakota Rail for freight service and the dinner train known as the Minnetonka Zephyr. I believe the Minnetonka Zephyr ended in the late 80s but freight service continued until 2000. The Hutch Spur was officially abandoned in 2001 after no new operator could be found. Since 2008 the Dakota Rail Trail has occupied the right-of-way, and last I checked it stretches as far west as Lester Prairie.

The Dakota Rail Corridor would use BNSF's Wayzata Subdivision between downtown Minneapolis and Wayzata and then use the Hutch Spur to Hutchinson. If you walk along the Dakota Rail Trail you'll see a few signs of its past as a rail line. By coincidence, or keeping the future in mind, the Mound Transit Center abuts the right-of-way. I asked my professor, Frank Loetterle, about this and he said it was most likely cheap land sold by the railroad to the city and it ended up being a transit center and public parking ramp. However, if regional rail were proposed through this corridor at least one station has already been built. Getting over the obvious fact that there would be local opposition, I could see this being a great transit line for people who want to go to Lake Minnetonka as well as for commuters with all-day service using DMUs or EMUs. Higher frequency (every 30 minutes) as far west as Mound (or St. Bonifacius) and then lighter frequency all the way to Hutchinson.

I also made a Facebook page about it: https://www.facebook.com/DakotaRailCorridor

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VacantLuxuries
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Re: Dakota Rail Corridor

Postby VacantLuxuries » March 30th, 2016, 2:44 pm

1,000 weekday riders
I don't see that realistically happening ever. Even the unfinished Northstar route attracts 2,500+ weekday riders on average, and we can't get traction for another commuter line unless Northstar is completed and actually performs to expectations. And even then, there are a number of corridors with far greater potential in the queue before we get to Hutchinson.

mattaudio
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Re: Dakota Rail Corridor

Postby mattaudio » March 30th, 2016, 3:57 pm

I also don't see this happening. There are too many opportunities on existing decent rail, to larger population centers. Passenger rail on or paralleling the BNSF Wayzata Sub (whether LRT or BNSF-commuter) makes some sense, possibly terminating in Wayzata or even Delano. Service to Hutchinson requiring new rails threaded through exclusive Lake Minnetonka communities does not.

mulad
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Re: Dakota Rail Corridor

Postby mulad » March 31st, 2016, 6:01 pm

I think the best chance for getting service to Hutchinson would be to build a new corridor to either the BNSF Wayzata Subdivision about 13 miles north, or the Twin Cities & Western about 10 miles south. The most straightforward option to me would be to angle a connection between Hutchinson and the TC&W near Glencoe, roughly paralleling MN-22 -- that would be about 12-13 miles of new track. Far more feasible than rebuilding the Dakota Rail line itself.

The Twin Cities & Western corridor leads into the southwest suburbs and eventually meets the Southwest LRT corridor. That's yet another reason why I feel the planned Southwest LRT corridor should really be more of a "commuter rail" design rather than light rail, but whatever...

froggie
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Re: Dakota Rail Corridor

Postby froggie » April 1st, 2016, 8:57 am

Higher frequency (every 30 minutes) as far west as Mound
This would require at least some double-tracking. Given that the former railroad was all single-track, you would incur some significant grading costs and, depending on where that double-tracking would have to go, might squeeze out the bike/ped path due to limited right-of-way.

DanPatchToget
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Dakota Rail Corridor

Postby DanPatchToget » April 2nd, 2016, 12:15 am

The TC&W corridor or a corridor to the north (Luce Line) wouldn't serve destinations that the Dakota Rail Corridor would other than Hutchinson. The Dakota Rail Corridor's purpose would also be to serve some of the communities of Lake Minnetonka. This would most likely replace the current bus service on Shoreline Drive (Route 675, which would only go as far west as Wayzata, and Route 677 completely). We could consider BRT along Shoreline Drive but that would mean having to widen the road for a shoulder lane for buses.

Sidings along this corridor in Lake Minnetonka would be a bit difficult. Preferably sidings would be located at stations, so depending on station locations it could be easy or hard to include a siding.

masstrlk67
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Re: Dakota Rail Corridor

Postby masstrlk67 » April 4th, 2016, 11:33 am

I biked part of the Dakota Trail during yesterday's beautiful weather. It gets reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeal cozy with the Lafayette Club and the houses around there in Minnetonka Beach. It kind of amazes me that there was once freight rail there since it feels more like an interurban ROW.


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