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Ellis & Eastern Railroad representatives thanked federal, state and local officials for public support during an Aug. 20 outdoor gathering in Magnolia.
Many of the 50 in attendance were meeting each other face-to-face for the first time after working to secure a $14.4 million federal grant to improve 41 miles of the Buffalo Ridge Railroad.
The BRRR runs through the southern third of Rock and Nobles counties and will undergo a $33.9 million rail rehabilitation project.
“This grant is part of a tremendous project that took a significant number of people to complete,” said Jeffrey Cooley with the project’s engineering firm, Civil Design Inc. of Brookings, South Dakota.
The four-year project is broken into seven phases.
Bridge improvements are first, then tie and ballast improvements beginning in Magnolia.
The work will involve 88,000 tons of aggregate and 92,500 wooden railroad ties.
“If laid from end to end, it’s 149 miles, roughly, and stretches from the South Dakota border and half way to Wisconsin,” Cooley said.
This fall, grant money may be released for the project to begin early.
“Steel prices have dropped,” said event host Dan Kippley with Ellis and Eastern. “We want to take advantage of this.”
Chuck Ackman, outreach director for U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, became familiar with the local rail line after the 2014 flood event.
“I recall seeing two rails suspended in the air with nothing underneath,” Ackman said.
His knowledge of the local rail line and familiarity with federal grant processes was helpful with E&E’s application for the federal Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant.
“I was able to connect them with people who were able to help,” he said.
The Buffalo Ridge Railroad Authority (BRRRA), comprised of eight Rock and Nobles county members, considered not investing $750,000 for flood repairs needed to keep the railroad as viable infrastructure.
Because the authority was able to prove the rail line was owned by public entities, the counties’ expenses were eventually reimbursed through federal flood relief dollars.
“Rail is the safest and most efficient way to transport our ethanol throughout our nation,” said Neal Breitbarth with State Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s office.
For every gallon of diesel used, one ton of freight can be moved more than 450 miles.
“When we use rail, it saves our roads,” said Katie Hatt, Minnesota Department of Transportation interagency rail director.
She applauded the private-public collaboration on the local grant application.
“It’s a wonderful story of partnership,” she said. “We have an important part of infrastructure that is still here today and in use for the future.”
The more immediate impact will be the local economic boost of the construction project itself, according to Minnesota Sen. Bill Weber, Luverne.
He said labor, supplies and related resources will offset pandemic market disruptions.
Rock County Commissioner Stan Williamson was one of three local representatives who traveled to Washington, D.C., in early March to lobby for the BRRR improvements.
He said one message was reiterated with each meeting about rural southwest Minnesota. “Economic development is very important to us,” he said.
The BRRR was relinquished to county ownership through bankruptcy in the late 1980s. At that time the rail line was in poor condition with limited weight at a speed under 10 mph.
The local rail authority was created in 1987 and the group leased the operation to a private entity. Most recently, Minnesota Southern Railway operated it until 2017, when E&E signed a 15-year lease with a possible 99-year extension.
The BRRR is one of 13 short line railroads in the state still in operation.
BRRR is unique because of its ability to connect to two of the four major railroads in the state — the Burlington Northern Sante Fe to the east and the Union Pacific to the west.
This allows the negotiations of better shipping prices, according to John Apitz with the Minnesota Regional Railroads Association.
“This will be a successful line,” he said after the Aug. 20 event. “Once the rehab is done, there will be more people who will want to use it.”
Magnolia Mayor Dennis Madison noted that in 1884 railroad officials abandoned a planned town by moving the location a half-mile east, naming it Magnolia.
“Without the railroad coming through Magnolia, we wouldn’t be here today.”