Current state legislation could appropriate $850,000 for a study to extend the NorthStar Commuter Rail to St. Cloud.
At the last Sherburne County Board meeting, the commissioners and Public Works Director Andrew Witter held a workshop about whether the county would be in support of that legislation.
To open the discussion, Witter gave the board some background information about the current status of NorthStar.
He said the original capital cost of the project was $317 million, of which Sherburne County paid $8.2 million. The county still has over $5.1 million in debt service remaining through 2032.
He said ridership has been pretty consistent since 2010. But the estimates for ridership have never been achieved.
“When the project first started they were anticipating about 3,400 riders per weekday. That is a little bit higher than actual ridership thus far,” he said.
A study by Kimley Horn in 2010 about Phase 2, the extension to St. Cloud and further, was also done at that time.
“The conclusion was at that time not to proceed,” said Witter. “Some of the key findings were low ridership, capital costs and operating costs.”
Witter said the study also produced some key goals necessary for the extension: ridership greater than 4,500 a day; corridor capacity improvements; installation of a third rail from Coon Creek Junction to Northtown Yards; greater than $50 million in alternative grant funding, major economic development - 3,000 new people or jobs along the Phase 2 corridor and a second rail between Becker and Big Lake. Only the last item has been completed.
Witter said current legislation, if passed, would pay for a study to see if it was feasible to extend the commuter rail to St. Cloud. He asked the board for their thoughts about the possibility.
Commissioner Felix Schmiesing said there is strong interest by some groups in the St. Cloud area to do the extension. But he feels they haven’t thought about some of the issues.
“I think a lot of people who are in support of a train to St. Cloud don’t really recognize what that would mean - does it mean two trips? What would the schedule be?” he said. “Their idea is they’ll go down to the train station, and within a half hour there will be a train there to take them down and bring them back. That is not the reality of commuter rail. So I think part of the study should be to educate people on what that might be.”
Commissioner Raeanne Danielowski said one of the issues with current ridership numbers is the schedule and a lack of mobility for reverse commuters. There is nothing within walking distance from the Big Lake station.
“Once you get off the train here, unless you have some way to get to your job, you’re stuck,” she said.
Commissioner Barbara Burandt said the limited schedule prevented her from using NorthStar from Elk River to the Metro area.
“I would have used it the five years I was working downtown,” she said. But I was working until 7 p.m. sometimes and there wouldn’t be a train coming back.”
Witter said there has been some talk about using the Amtrak Station in St. Cloud as a pilot project for the extension. There are also discussions about a Clear Lake station.
“If you start including too many stops, then you don’t have the efficiency of commuter rail,” he said.
Danielowski saw another issue with scheduling if the train started in St. Cloud.
“There are currently trains leaving Big Lake at 5 a.m.,” she said. “What time would they have to leave from St. Cloud?”
Commissioner Tim Dolan said he had a tough time finding a benefit with an extension. He said the ridership issue had to be part of the discussion.
“We would need to see the ridership numbers climb consistently and see a lot better ridership down here before I would say it’s justified to spend another million on a study elsewhere,” he said. “I don’t think adding St. Cloud would make our numbers skyrocket all of a sudden.”
Schmiesing said there is also the issue of replacing existing trips with trips to St. Cloud.
“Anything that would create a reduction in trains running between Big Lake and Minneapolis would be a non-starter for us,” he said. “If anything, we would want more opportunities for people to ride the train. So don’t talk about taking away a trip here and adding one there.”
Dolan reiterated his concern about ridership.
“We have existing rail. We have a problem of not hitting our ridership numbers. We have a problem of people not being able to use it because of certain services,” he said. “If that study will give us a view into that and possible solutions, I could be in support of that study.”
Witter said he would compile the input from the commissioners.
Administrator Steve Taylor said he would include the information in a letter to the authors of the legislation so they would know the county’s concerns.
