Fix railroad system woes, Dayton, Klobuchar, Franken tell feds

The railroad system is doing a poor job of serving industry in Minnesota, according to a letter sent by three top state politicians Monday.

Gov. Mark Dayton along with U.S. Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar sent a letter to Surface Transportation Board Chairman Daniel Elliott III, saying "the railroads have not provided even minimally adequate levels of rail service."

The Surface Transportation Board has economic and operational oversight for the country's freight railroad system.

The letter said several state sectors are suffering because of the shipping delays.

"We are hearing daily from captive shippers across the agricultural, mining, and energy sectors who cannot move products to market or transshipment locations; cannot secure delivery of enough coal to run power plants; and are forced to find extremely uneconomic alternatives," it said.

The letter said state energy companies are restricting coal-fire plant operations to conserve coal stockpiles.

A Minnesota Public Radio report Monday found state power companies are running low on coal inventories because of unreliable rail shipping. Xcel Energy officials said the Sherco Power plant in central Minnesota, one of the largest coal facilities in the Midwest, is at 57 percent of its target inventory.

Company officials told MPR that consumers may end up with higher utility bills because of the lack of inventory.

The three politicians urge Elliott to push for more transparency from railroad companies, to require each carrier to submit coal service recovery plans and to have the board hold a public hearing on how poor rail service is impacting electricity reliability and costs.

"While a better understanding of service problems is important, the STB needs to take concrete steps to address the known, current service problems now," the letter said.