The Minnesota River gets some sweetener

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=248037

 

That is correct, SIR! And it looks like it hasn't been maintained since then LOL

 

Actually, there was another x-mn&s line that had a bridge burn up by vandals. Another old timber type.. in Medicine lake, and they rebuilt that one.. although, there were more than just one client on the line

 

WILL THE TRAIN TOOT AGAIN?

CHASKA, MN -- Amid the pregnant waters of the Minnesota River, a motor boat full of people puttered back and forth last Thursday inspecting a dramatic scene of twisted rail and submerged railcars.

It had been almost two weeks since a Union Pacific railroad bridge buckled, dumping railcars full of sugar into the river near Carver, rendering the line unusable and raising questions about the future of the tracks that run through downtown Chaska, Minnesota.

Photo here:

[www.chaskaherald.com] train.jpg

The investigation is ongoing, but it appears fast-flowing floodwaters washed away the bridge supports, said Union Pacific Railroad spokesman Gene Hinkle. Four train cars were submerged in the water, he said.

Union Pacific worked with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to monitor water conditions. There was some sugar in the water, Hinkle said, and it appears one car was torn open. Because sugar washed away, none was concentrated enough to damage aquatic life.

Hinkle said the train cars are scheduled to be removed the week of April 16. High waters and the remote location of the bridge, 1,000 to 2,000 feet upstream from Carver's downtown trestle, have made the removal process a challenge.

But Chaska City Administrator David Pokorney told council members that there was a question as to whether or not Union Pacific would rebuild the bridge at all, a notion that would open up all sorts of opportunities for Chaska.

When asked if the bridge would be rebuilt, Union Pacific media representative James Barnes said in a phone message there was "nothing new to share."

Trucking option

So will this be the last train to ride the downtown line?

Currently, the line that runs through downtown Chaska serves only United Sugars on Stoughton Avenue. The 137-year-old line was stubbed at the United Sugars factory in the early 1990s, with the easterly portion of the former Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway line being converted to a trail.

According to Ray Smith, a representative with United Sugars Corporation in Edina, the sugar factory was receiving three switches a week prior to the March accident. In a switch, trains drop off cars full of sugar and picked up empty cars.

United Sugars has 14 full-time employees, as well as a number of seasonal workers. They produce liquid sugar for use in canning and ice cream.

Ray said they expect to resume that schedule and again receive sugar from their plants in the Red River Valley via train. "We're relying on the railroad to replace the tracks," he said. "It's still the most efficient way to get sugar to us."

According to Smith, they have been told by Union Pacific that it will be at least a month to a month and a half before the line could be repaired. Meanwhile, United Sugars will be relying on its existing product.

Development opportunities

Though United Sugars expects to resume their rail deliveries, Chaska city officials have already indicated that abandoned tracks would create opportunities along the line they would be interested in pursuing.

"There are four or five sites in downtown that would have re-use possibilities," said
Pokorney. "There would also be residential uses along the line."

According to Pokorney, the southern corners of highways 41 and 212, as well as the southeast corner of Highway 212 and Walnut Street and the area near the Chaska License Center, would all benefit from an empty-track scenario.

"The Walnut Street corner could become very significant," he said.

But Pokorney was quick to point out that they weren't running United Sugars out of town.
"The city wouldn't be interested in trying to buy up right of way unless there was a viable option for (United Sugars)," he said. "We don't want to see that become unused."

Pokorney said that they have been in talks with the Twin Cities and Western railroad, which operates a line in northern Chaska, to put together a proposal for a rail-to-truck program that would bring sugar to the factory via truck at a similar cost.

Smith indicated little interest in that plan, saying that trucking is an added cost for them.
Freight is an important part of our business," he said. "It wouldn't make sense to truck the sugar in." - Mollee Francisco and Shannon Fiecke, The Chaska Herald