(The following editorial appeared on the Bismarck Tribune website on October 27, 2009.)
BISMARCK, N.D. — Having passenger service for Bismarck-Mandan — connecting to Dickinson, Glendive, Billings and Seattle to the west and Fargo, Minneapolis and Chicago to the east — would be grand. We had that with the North Coast Hiawatha until 1979. And the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 reconsiders the route. For nostalgic and convenience reasons, many North Dakotans along the southline would find renewed Amtrak service a boon.
Boon or not, it’s a losing proposition, and Congress should not jump start the southern Amtrak route in North Dakota. There may be other routes worth restarting because they make good sense, but not the one running through Bismarck-Mandan.
The early numbers show the revenue from such a link reaching 51.8 percent of the cost. That’s an operating loss of $31.1 million a year. And we’re told that’s a good thing. Oh, yes, then there’s the estimated $1.04 billion capital investment to get things going.
And, where’s our national debt?
There’s a lot about passenger line service that makes sense in North Dakota. It should be more economic than all of us driving up and down the interstate highway with one person in each car and truck. For those without personal transportation, it gives options beyond the bus or airlines. It would be a great connector with major cities to the east and west. Bismarck-Mandan also have powerful historic links to the railroad, and not just coal trains. The transcontinental reach of the rail that passes through our two cities provided the initial reason for creating these communities at the juncture of the Missouri River and what was the Northern Pacific Railroad.
But then we already have east-west passenger service (is there any other kind) in the state. Amtrak now passes through Minot, a couple hours by car to the north. Given the high subsidy a line would require, doubling the access to Amtrak in North Dakota seems a stretch.
Improving Amtrak service in urban areas, where traffic is heavy and highways and airways clogged, make sense, even if a subsidy is required. That cost in sparsely populated areas doesn’t trim itself down in per rider cost to anything near reasonableness.
William Thoms of the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University has it right, “Man will step on Mars before someone steps off of a train in Bismarck.” And that’s the way it should remain.