An increased number of trains might pass near the Winona State University campus if the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation receives a $2.3 billion loan to expand its operation.
If the loan passes, DM&E plans to start construction in 2007 and start operating in 2010.
The plan, called the Powder River Basin project began in February 1998 to construct a 260-mile track for transporting low-sulfur coal from Wyoming and improve 600 miles of existing 80-year-old tracks.
Since the Surface Transportation Board, a branch of the Department of Transportation, approved the project, the railway has undergone two Environmental Impact Statements by the board and one open comment period.
Winona State student senate announced its opposition to the proposal in early December.
While D.J. Danielson, student senate public relations chair, said he is not against trains traveling through Winona, he is concerned about noise pollution.
Danielson said he had received complaints “off and on” primarily from East Lake residents.
The senate is also concerned about the railway’s safety record, Danielson said.
The railway has the most accidents of any company in its revenue class and the eighth most accidents overall, according to a Federal Railroad Administration of Safety Analysis.
According to its Web site, the railway promised to improve safety measures and increase signaling if the loan is approved.
The Surface of Transportation Board’s environmental analysis approved the environmental impacts of the project, looking mainly at air quality, horn noise and vibration and noise.
Jason Bauman, a senior class senator, disagrees.
“DM&E has yet to prove their upgrades deter derailments and that the $2.3 billion will in fact improve rail lines,” Bauman stated in an e-mail.
Michael Bowler, a former DM&E task member for Winona State, said the project is a student safety issue.
The Canadian Pacific Railway owns the track near campus so the increased DM&E traffic could be diverted from Winona, Bowler said.
Although it’s unsure if the increased train traffic will impact Winona, Bauman said it will affect Winona State students.
“Some of our opposition to (the senate’s) resolution has come from people saying that the DM&E trains will not affect us,” Bauman stated. “What they must understand is that it will affect Winona State, as well as the students that go to the Rochester campus.”
DM&E, which runs primarily in Minnesota and South Dakota, and the project has the support of 55 of the 56 communities the increased traffic affects.
The only community opposed to the expansion is Rochester, Minn.
The Mayo Clinic is openly against the project saying trains may threaten the safety of their patients, according to local news reports.
Representatives from Mayo Clinic declined to comment.
The city of Winona is unable to speak on the project at this time because it has not come to a unanimous decision, said city council member Deb Salyards.
Currently, 28 trains rumble through Winona every day, loan is approved, many more might shake the ground as far away as Broadway.