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Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: September 7th, 2016, 3:42 pm
by HiawathaGuy
Chinese investors consider MN high-speed rail proposal
http://finance-commerce.com/2016/09/chi ... -proposal/
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Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: September 17th, 2016, 10:31 am
by Tiller
Twin Cities-Rochester rail gains momentum
http://finance-commerce.com/2016/09/twi ... -momentum/
*UNLOCKED*
I'll agree that there's "momentum" once I see some money down.
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: September 17th, 2016, 1:10 pm
by talindsay
So part of me thinks it's more a Shelbyville idea. Another part of me thinks any group with the word "Concerned" in its name needs to go away.
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: September 17th, 2016, 1:47 pm
by Silophant
Shouldn't "concerned" be implied by the fact that they bothered to form a group?
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: September 17th, 2016, 2:04 pm
by grant1simons2
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: September 17th, 2016, 3:02 pm
by Nick
Buy American still applies to privately-funded projects?
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: September 17th, 2016, 3:35 pm
by nBode
That article was so confusing. It's apparently impossible, but they're still pursuing it? Also, how is this requirement only now being discovered?
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: September 17th, 2016, 4:44 pm
by Tiller
XpressWest "died" (not really, but we'll see) in June, 3-4 months ago, so I'd take it those involved here would know about its circumstances at this point. My question: is XpressWest a public-private partnership or something? I haven't been able to dig up the specifics of how the "Buy American" regulations apply here.
Edit:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0YV05R
The biggest challenge has been a federal funding requirement that high-speed trains be manufactured in the United States, even though no such trains are produced in the country, Marnell said.
Sounds like they wanted federal funding. Also our proposal is namedropped with Texas'.
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: September 17th, 2016, 4:48 pm
by Tom H.
I'm pretty sure XpressWeat had applied for a large (multi-billion $) FRA loan, so that may be where the Buy America provision arose.
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: September 17th, 2016, 5:14 pm
by Tiller
On a related note, if the Chinese can't use XpressWest as a foot-in-the-door, then our value as one just went up.
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: September 17th, 2016, 6:22 pm
by FISHMANPET
Reading that, it sounds like the author might be confusing construction and design. It sounds like the hang up is that they would need trains that meet FRA crash requirements, requirements that are unique in the world. No opportunity to use off the shelf proven designs from around the world, be they built here or overseas.
There have been rumors for a couple years now that FRA might change their crash requirements to be more inline with the rest of the world, and that may be what the Chinese were hoping/waiting for.
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: September 18th, 2016, 10:16 am
by mulad
I believe the FRA has distanced itself from the Texas project to some extent, deciding that it wasn't really under their domain since (like this project here) it is planned as a closed system that doesn't interact with other railroads, and it's contained within a single state (no interstate commerce to be concerned with, per se). Personally, I think it's a mistake to build an entirely closed system, since that makes it harder and more expensive to reach existing downtown stations/sites (which is why this is planned to end in Bloomington) instead of
leveraging what exists, though for a demonstration project which would eventually be extended, that may not be as big of a deal.
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: December 10th, 2016, 8:36 pm
by DanPatchToget
http://www.startribune.com/high-speed-r ... 405712276/
So as time goes by the more I think that this plan for privately funded HSR isn't legit and won't happen, or I'm just impatient. At the same time though, this "concerned" group doesn't seem to realize that this train would use right-of-way on the median of Highway 52 (or am I missing something?).
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: December 10th, 2016, 8:53 pm
by bubzki2
There's definitely some disconnect and confusion regarding the zip-rail to private rail transition. Odd that little to one of the coverage seems to explain the fact that there's already a highway in the places these small towns are worried about, which are more disruptive than a few trains would be.
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: February 24th, 2017, 10:47 pm
by phop
So this is probably dead:
http://www.postbulletin.com/news/politi ... 43c08.html
But questions are swirling as to what has happened to the rail group. Visitors to North American High Speed Rail Group's website are instead referred to a website for "Minnesota Corridor." Wendy Meadley, who served as the rail group's chief strategy officer, states on her LinkedIn page that she left the company in October. She also terminated her status as a lobbyist for the rail group on Nov. 2, according to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
Meadley declined a request for comment.
Records show that Meadley purchased the web domain name for Minnesota Corridor — mnhsr.com. Meanwhile, Joseph Wang's LinkedIn page still lists him as chairman and CEO of the North American High Speed Rail Group. Wang could not be reached for comment.
Minnesota Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Gutknecht said the agency has not heard from the rail group or "anyone on a related topic for a number of months."
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: February 25th, 2017, 9:10 am
by DanPatchToget
Now can this be re-taken by MnDOT who is actually legitimate in their proposal?
And what part of "right-of-way along U.S. 52" does this CCARL group not understand? Using the abandoned-Chicago Great Western right-of-way seems more expensive and not feasible with all the properties that would need to be taken anyway.
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: February 19th, 2018, 11:12 am
by SurlyLHT
I don't know if this has been done before. But, I wonder if we could set up "high speed BRT" between the two cities to illustrate the demand and attract local/state funding or private investors for the rail?
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: February 19th, 2018, 12:15 pm
by mattaudio
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: February 19th, 2018, 12:36 pm
by tmart
I don't know that a dedicated guideway for shuttle buses would actually help anything here. Most of the route isn't congested. The real benefit of HSR would be traveling at speeds over that of automobiles. The distance is about 75 miles to St. Paul or 90 miles to Minneapolis. You're not going to see buses doing that in under an hour no matter what guideway you build, and I think under an hour (ideally 45 minutes) is really the speed it takes to actually enable commutes and better integrate Rochester into the state economy, rather than just be a novelty that competes with existing car travel.
Re: High Speed Rail MSP to Rochester
Posted: February 19th, 2018, 1:01 pm
by SurlyLHT
As the DMC starts to take shape. It just seems like a lost opportunity to not have a more solid connection between the Twin Cities and Rochester. Does anyone know of high speed buses being used? We must have the technology to run buses at 90 mph, but doing that safely I presume will be costly, but cheaper than rail.