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Twin Cities Business - Short Lines, Big Problems Much of the track remains in tough shape. http://tcbmag. com/news/articles/2017/j une/short-lines,-big-problems On a sunny spring day in Morton, dozens of garter snakes sun themselves on the rails. There will be no train this day, but if there were, the snakes would have plenty of warning: The top speed is 7 miles per hour because of the line's condition. Some of the rails have inch -long gaps; all are stamped 1912 or 1913, the year they were forged in Midwestern steel mills. And every year when the state inspects that mile -long timber trestle across the Minnesota at Morton, county and railroad officials hold their breath. They fear the day is coming when Morton ceases to be a railroad town for good. Tipping point While Morton may be far from the minds of most Minnesotans, the potential loss of rail freight is a concern faced by dozens of communities and hundreds of businesses throughout the state. It's a mode of transportation vital to their economies, but in some places it's fighting for its life. To put Minnesota's short lines in a state of adequate repair, they are asking for $62 million from taxpayers, with an additional $55 million over the next half -decade, according to Merrill Busch, government relations advisor to the Minnesota Commercial Railway. A failure to invest, the railroads insist, puts jobs and communities at risk. On the Minnesota Commercial's Hugo branch line between White Bear Lake and Hugo, the ties are so rotted that the railbed is uneven, and trains are in danger of literally tipping over, says owner John Gohmann. Without a fix this year, a host of businesses in Hugo and White Bear, representing hundreds of jobs, are at risk. On the Prairie Line between Winthrop and Hanley Falls, hundred -year-old rails are so brittle they will snap if freight cars operate with standard loads. The total investment needed for new rails and bridges comes to $60 million. The alternative is a gradual atrophying as shippers give up hope of better service, says Mark Wegner—president/CEO of the Twin Cities & Western Railroad, which operates the Prairie Line for its county owners. Short Line Railroad Statewide Economic Impact Direct short line spending: $41.26 MILLION Direct short line jobs: 277 Direct short line wages: $18.6 MILLION 2013-14 estimates, from MVRRA/TC&W Economic Impact Studies Indirect economic activity: $4.7o billion Indirect jobs reliant on short line rail: 11,403 Indirect wages reliant on short line rail: $553 MILLION 2014 estimates, MVRRA/TC&W studies "It's not a pretty picture when a rural town loses its railroad," explains Michael Beard, manager of government affairs for the Minnesota Valley Regional Rail Authority (MVRRA), the consortium of counties that own the Prairie Line. "Fulda, Seaforth, Vesta—the story is the same. The elevator closes. The farmer does his banking, shopping and eating out where the elevator is. So Main Street dries up. The school closes because families move away because jobs are gone. With the elevator gone, the tax base is spread over a dwindling number of homeowners, and the town can't afford to repair the sewer plant...." Deferred Maintenance [Close] When people think of a railroad, most think of the BNSF or Union Pacific, national behemoths, speeding 125 -car trains on smooth welded rails to or from coastal ports, conveying grain to Asia or consumer goods to Amazon or 2 of 9 6/16/17, 11:35 AM