State officials doubt the feasibility of Amtrak services in South Dakota despite the possibility laid out by a new study.
The state railroad board heard reports from groups studying the viability of long-distance passenger rail services in the state in its latest meeting.
South Dakota is one of only three states in the country without Amtrak services.
Kellie Beck is the Finance Director for the State Department of Transportation. She said two possible passenger rail routes have been identified through studies funded by the Federal Railroad Administration.
“At our February meeting, the study did identify two routes through the State of South Dakota. One route would be Twin Cities to Sioux Falls, to Rapid, to Cheyenne, to Denver route. The other one was Twin Cities, to Sioux Falls, to Sioux City, to Omaha, Kansas City route,” said Beck.
Beck said the previous federal study on Midwest passenger rail service concluded that passenger rail in South Dakota was not viable.
Dan Bilka is with All Aboard Northwest, a group advocating for expanded passenger rail services. He said the original study didn’t take all funding sources into account.
“The difference with this long-distance service study compared to the Midwest Regional Rail Plan. The Midwest Region Rail Plan was looking at what’s called state-supported services. So that is looking at different criteria compared to what our long-distance services and the value metric on them,” said Bilka.
Bilka said the state meets all the main criteria in the new study making it a higher priority than other states that rely on state-supported rail services.
Joel Jundt is the state Transportation Secretary. He disagreed with Bilka’s assessment.
“I do not see any routes in South Dakota rising to the top from a high priority standpoint. And as you know, just the cost of physically doing rail in our state is very expensive,” said Jundt.
Jundt said his doubts stem from the overall cost of a long-distance rail service. He said a lot of South Dakotans like the concept of Amtrak services but that he doubts it will become a reality.
