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'Ramsey County has the dough and now the project is a go.......'
According to local media, an agreement has been reached with the various railroads to begin signal and turnout construction to get the Empire Builder in and out of the newly renovated St. Paul Union Depot.
BNSF will dispatch the new interchanges and Amtrak could move as early as October.
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Ashamed Disclaimer: The comments after this link do not reflect the typical literacy skills of Zip 5. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis were both Zip Fivers.
palmland Member # 4344
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That is good news. What mystifies me is that apparently the Builder will still make a stop at the current station for servicing and crew change. Can someone confirm if that's the case? If so it is hard to imagine why necessary changes in the Terminal wouldn't have been made to accommodate that.
notelvis Member # 3071
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TwinStar - disclaimer noted. Perhaps that comment was left by someone who is still learning to use his new mobile device.
(this is what we call 'Benefit of the Doubt' - bless his heart.)
Palmland - I have read in other places that the Empire Builder will continue to stop as needed at Midway Station should it be dropping or adding private varnish as there will be no facilities for housing private cars at SPUD.
Bear in mind that the Friends of the 261 organization operates their restored premium class rolling stock to/from Chicago on the rear of the EB several times a year.
I've not seen anything confirming or denying whether the EB will continue to be serviced at Midway..... though the possibility certainly exists.
TwinStarRocket Member # 2142
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With or without a station stop, there is still about a 2 mile stretch of 10mph track and hand thrown switches at Midway (Minnesota Commercial Railway) connecting Canadian Pacific to BNSF. Any other route is longer and would involve a backup into SPUD.
Unlike Midway, land and parking are at a premium at SPUD. It is sandwiched between downtown and the Mississippi and at a rail bottleneck. Many PV's are parked at Midway, probably due to the hookups there and the easy access to freeways and parking. The company that refuels Amtrak is only a block from Midway Station.
Most of the population density of the Twin Cities is west of Midway, so SPUD will be 5 miles further away for lots of folks, and not as accessible by freeway without a long drive through downtown.
I worked 3 blocks from SPUD for 46 years and I have lived a few blocks from Midway for 33 years. I will miss the free parking, but SPUD is a beautiful restoration.
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