STB APPROVES POWER RIVER BASIN RAIL EXPANSION PROJECT
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board has approved the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad’s project to build a 280-mile rail line to tap into the coal mines of Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.
The DM&E project is the largest rail expansion project approved by the agency. It was subject to a number of environmental mitigation conditions and the requirement that the railroad use “environmentally preferable routes.
The DM&E applied to the STB for the expansion in 1998. In a previous decision, the STB found that the new line, if built, should produce transportation benefits by giving the DM&E an opportunity to compete with the Union Pacific Railroad and Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway.
The cost of the project will be about $1.4 billion, which includes $532 million to construct about 280-mile of new line and $876 million to rebuild and upgrade about 600 miles of DM&E’s existing line.
While the STB granted its approval to the DM&E, the railroad’s project still needs approval from the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, Interior Department’s Bureaus of Land Management and Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard.
STB APPROVES POWER RIVER BASIN RAIL EXPANSION PROJECT
