Freight rail re-route through St. Louis Park is back on the table

St. Louis Park and Minneapolis are preparing for a rematch in the battle over where to put freight trains that run near the planned Southwest light rail line.

Both cities want the project to go forward. Neither wants to get stuck with the freight trains.

Those trains currently run through Minneapolis along part of the light rail route. To make that configuration work without destroying a nearby bike path, the light rail would need to go through a $160 million shallow tunnel.

A Metropolitan Council advisory panel last year backed the shallow tunnel plan, arguing the alternative of rerouting the freight trains to St. Louis Park was unworkable and more expensive.

Minneapolis protested, however, and the Met Council agreed to study the issue again.

The council hired TranSystems, a rail-industry consulting firm, to figure out if there were any other options. The consultants agreed the previous re-route plans were fatally flawed, said TranSystems senior vice president Jim Terry.

"I went back with my team, and I said let's get a clean sheet of paper out. There's something wrong with everything that we've tried so far," Terry said. "Let's see if we can address some of these problems, if possible -- knowing we're not going to solve them all -- but let's see what we can do."

TranSystems came up with a plan that doesn't include one of the deal-killers with the prior re-route -- a two-story high earthen berm with the train on top.

A preliminary cost estimate suggests the new plan may be cheaper, too. Instead of $200 million, TranSystems pegged it at a little over $100 million, although the Met Council said it will need to do a more detailed analysis to figure out the actual price tag.

The company tweaked the route and straightened some of the curves.

There's no changing the fact, however, that neighbors -- even those who already live near existing freight tracks in St. Louis Park -- would have to put up with more trains, Terry added.

"We're dealing with citizens who are used to seeing two trains a day, and on a good day those trains carry 15 cars," he said. "In the future, they could have five or six trains added in a 24-hour period, some of them which have 110, 115 cars."

The trains would also run near two schools, as they did in the previous plan. And the re-route would still destroy about a half dozen homes. A similar number of businesses would need to relocate.

St. Louis Park City Council Member Jake Spano said he's disappointed the re-route plan has resurfaced. He doesn't think it will stand up to scrutiny.

"I think one consultant after spending a few weeks has come up with a line on a map that looks good. I think it's very similar to other routes that have been set aside, because when you really get into the meat of them, they don't work," Spano said. "They become more and more expensive, and this looks and feels like one of those routes."

Spano doesn't think the plan will gain much traction in St. Louis Park. Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, on the other hand is delighted to re-open the freight debate.

"We had been told that we had a really bad option in St. Louis Park versus a really bad option in Minneapolis," Hodges said. "Now we have an option where we share the burden, and we get to take a look at it, and I'm excited about even just even having another option on the table."

The option of keeping the freight trains in Minneapolis is still on the table, too. And another draft report released yesterday found the shallow tunnels that are part of that option would have minimal impact on water in the area. The city had raised concerns that the construction could harm nearby lakes.

Now that the two draft studies are out, the Southwest light rail project is at a turning point, said Peter McLaughlin, who represents Minneapolis on the Hennepin County Board.

"I think now we're at a point where we can say, 'We've really looked at the freight options, folks. What are we going to decide?'" McLaughlin said.

"That'll still make some people uncomfortable, and some people are going to be unhappy with the decision in all likelihood," he acknowledged. "But you've got to make a decision."

There are two public hearings scheduled for Feb. 10 and Feb. 12. The first is in Minneapolis, the second in St. Louis Park. The Met Council hopes to decide where to put the freight trains by the end of March.