(The Associated Press circulated the following article on July 3.)
PIERRE, S.D. — Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad workers will be busy rebuilding tracks this summer in central and western South Dakota.
A $2.5 million dollar update is already under way on the Missouri River bridge between Pierre and Fort Pierre. That project should be done this month, said Lynn Anderson, senior vice president of marketing.
DM&E also plans to replace old steel rail with heavier rail and swap out about 30,000 railroad ties between Philip and Midland, he said.
The life span of ties is about 25 years, and the company routinely replaces them in segments each year.
The drought hitting farmers hard may trickle down and cut income for DM&E because dry conditions drop the wheat yield, Anderson said.
But some other commodities are doing well and could pick up the slack from the reduced demand for rail cars needed to transport the wheat harvest, he said.