Governor Kristi Noem was bound and determined last week to criticize President Joe Biden’s super-duper infrastructure bill, but she couldn’t make up her mind whether she wanted to blast it for doing too much or whine about the President’s not spending enough money in South Dakota. That’s South Dakota values in a nutshell: we hate big government except when it does big things for South Dakota. (See also: Ellsworth Air Force Base, Interstate highways, farm subsidies….)
Governor Noem’s complaint that President Biden’s infrastructure bill doesn’t include money to run an Amtrak line to somewhere, anywhere in South Dakota is particularly amusing. South Dakota only has itself to blame for not having Amtrak service, because we decommissioned our passenger rail in 1969, and when the feds gave us seed money to develop passenger rail in 1997, we chose to spend it on other non-rail projects:
When South Dakota was given more than $23 million in federal “seed money” in 1997 to start a passenger rail line, it decided to use the cash for something else, according to Marc Magliari, who is with Amtrak.
Those funds were part of a 1997 tax relief act, which gave South Dakota and five other states without passenger rails — Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Oklahoma and Wyoming — the opportunity to either invest in a rail system or spend the money on other transportation improvements.
South Dakota chose to do the latter, and subsequently became one of just two states where the federal passenger rail didn’t operate.
Without initial infrastructure from the original U.S. Department of Transportation maps or subsequent 1997 investment, inclusion on today’s maps became all the more difficult [Rebecca Turchscherer, “Why South Dakota Didn’t Get on Expanded Amtrak Map,” Aberdeen American News, 2021.04.04].
Amtrak and the Biden Administration say we could still get ourselves into the plan if we wanted to… and I’d love to! Imagine the tourism tie-ins, the chance to offer vacationers a leisurely tour of the prairie, the Black Hills, and on down to the Rockies, then back to Minneapolis or Chicago.
But no, for all Kristi’s complaining, our own state government can only think small:
According to the South Dakota Department of Transportation, there wouldn’t be sufficient ridership to warrant an investment in passenger rail service for South Dakota, but a spokesperson for the department did note that the 1880 Train from Hill City to Keystone is still in operation [Tuchscherer, 2021.04.04].
It is appropriate, perhaps, that Pierre would invoke the 1880 Train… since South Dakotans had more passenger rail service in 1880 than they do in 2021. But hey, if we won’t even invest federal grants, not to mention our own money, then we’ll stay stuck on the 1880 train while the rest of the country builds more 21st-century infrastructure.
Thinking small. The South Dakota leadership seems big on that. Can’t afford it, too hard. Not exactly the party of vision.
Even a spur from Omaha to SF would have huge tourism and freight travel benefits.
I’m not a fan of thinking big. Thinking big is thinking dumb. Too much of that goes on in South Dakota. If it ain’t big, it don’t matter. That’s how you get the entire business community trying to turn good grazing land into dumps for New Jersey’s garbage. My advise is think small, and build small into something substantial over time.
The trains they were considering back in the 1990s were going to go 5 miles an hour over a good long stretch of South Dakota. Maybe they could have improved that to 20 mph, but it would have taken too much money to make the choo-choo move at competitive speeds. The were just dreaming about bullet trains back then. Look, going 60 mph might have made it a go, but you could still drive faster between Sioux Falls and Rapid City. The money was better spent elsewhere, except they probably wasted in on the stupic Heartland Experessway.
Wait a minute…the Governor just might be onto something.
She can take the train and save the state $$$ by not having to buy a new airplane.
A win-win for everyone.
Amid this passionate 2016 civilian discussion of passenger rail service in South Dakota, a rail buff notes that when South Dakota decommissioned its passenger rail lines, very people showed up at the mandatory hearings on the loss of service.
I’m beginning to question the self esteem or self worth of so many South Dakotans, like my best friend who lived in a slummy house in a nice neighborhood. She personally felt she didn’t deserve a beautiful place but it was her right to live where she wanted. It took her 30 years, after lots of counseling, to figure out that the problem was with her and not her neighbors. A complete makeover for her and her home.
South Dakota is beautiful with landscape, flora, fauna, and with so much variety. However, they have to contend with some humans that abuse and ruin it. It is those worthless people that are the minority, yet they are also the leaders of what South Dakota is now and will be in the future. No matter how you all define Noem, (I’ll not start on the 3 stooges) she represents these worthless humans who have no self definition, just out for self gratification glorification.
Why have Amtrak rails in South Dakota? Isn’t it just a ride to no where? Or are the powers that be afraid that it’s a way for those without cars or other means of travel to get the hell out of here?
Tuchscherer debunks the rumor that Governor Mike Rounds spent South Dakota’s 1997 Amtrak money to buy a new state plane. Amtrak’s Inspector General investigated that rumor in 2009 and reported that South Dakota did not improperly spend its Amtrak disbursement on Mike’s new airplane. “The money used to purchase the aircraft was drawn from the State Aeronautics Fund. TRA-97 money was then used to replenish the State Aeronautics Fund. Subsequently, the TRA-97 money in the State Aeronautics Fund was spent on qualified expenses.”
In 2017, Sioux Falls transportation planner Sam Trebilcock said no one was looking at expanding Amtrak to Sioux Falls seriously: “Trebilcock said a system like Amtrak would be beneficial for the city. But Sioux Falls would need to be connected to destinations that would matter to riders, like Minneapolis or Omaha.”
On board with this idea. South Dakotans could take the train to major air hubs for some decent airfares, too.
“South Dakota values in a nutshell: we hate big government except when it does big things for South Dakota.” – CAH
“You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common topsoil of the flatland prairie. You know … morons.” – Waco Kid
Amtrak loses money every year, they will never build a rail line in SD. It would be nice to have high speed rail but I would rather have Medicare for All.
Well that would have made the trip to Minneapolis for concerts much easier when I was in college in Vermillion. As far as the trip from Sioux Falls to Rapid you could just go back to Montana’s old reasonable and prudent speed limit on the interstate, Kristi would like that.
Montana’s “reasonable speed” limit, with no designated maximum speed, seems awesome at first blush for people that like to drive quite fast. In my younger days I saw that as an invitation to treat the higfhway like the German autobahn and drive “thrill ride” speeds on Montana highways. But it turns out that the “reasonable speed” limit was actually a trap allowing law enforcement to stop any driver at will regardless of that driver’s speed. All the officer had to do was declare whatever speed being driven to be “unreasonable” in the officer’s judgment and the driver was toast. The SD Highway Patrol would love such an undesiginated speed limit since it would make it even easier to make otherwise unconstitutional drug interdiction stops and searches on the highway.
Anyway, that was the explanation given by the Montana Supreme Court when they ruled that this “reasonable” speed limit violated the Constitution because such a limit failed to give a motorist adequate notice of how fast or slow he or she was permitted to drive. A high speed Amtrack train is a much better way for a speed freak like Noem to avoid traffic tickets, and carry her SD “Meth – We’re on it” promotional swag.
Fungable. I like that word. Fung Able. Able to Fung. All money is fungable.
As an ESD kid, riding dirty in a crew cab of roughnecks through Montana in the early 70’s, it wasn’t how fast we could drive but how good we got at hitting Interstate highway signs with beer bottles, at over a hundred mph.
Locals said it was the state sport of Montana.
Who knew?
Back then, Mr. Lansing, the only thing you were doing illegal was littering. grudznick, too, remembers those days fondly.
Most dangerous situation, other than being caught with a sack of weed by Montana HP or discovered by a ranch girl’s Daddy was broadsiding a Bambi at 105.
Wyoming and Montana seeded the Interstate median with alfalfa, which was like crack to pronghorns and white tail, after dark.
And both allowed for legal swilling of cold, refreshing beverages whilst one rode down the highway. In Wyoming, I believe, the driver had to hand his beer to a passenger if the cops flagged you down in order to be legal. And oh, thos ranch girls, they were something back then.
Apparently SD and WY are the only 2 states in the lower 48 that are not on Amtrak line.
Hick states.
Infrastructure is- impeach Stone Age Noem, build a bullet train Sioux Falls to Rapid City, join Amtrak.
Biden can help us join the 20th Century.
We could secede and join Australia or New Zealand?
You know Mr. Lansing when I drove my father through Montana on union business I almost hit a deer at night, now I know why. It was a deer and not a human being so at least my sight is better than the SD AJ.
This 2018 piece “Returning to the Rails in South Dakota” has a bunch of good history and intel (tracks that are still functional and who owns them; tracks that have been removed; new lines that would need to be built).
http://hizeph400.blogspot.com/2018/03/returning-to-rails-in-south-dakota.html
The route of I-90 makes us forget that there was never a direct rail line between Rapid and Sioux Falls. The lines went from Rapid to Pierre, and then east through Huron
Rapid to Pierre and Huron might make a little shorter route than dipping down to Sioux Falls and then back north.
Dakota Southern Railway runs from Kadoka to Mitchell.
DOT has a complete map. Burlington Northern and others.
Current SD leaders always think small. They’ll how and bellow about unfunded mandates and resources and all manner of things, amplifying any small obstacle or work and then eliminating any chance of doing something EXCITING by endless harrumphing.
Our next movie should be Blazing Saddles 2022 where a Black Sherrif Falls in love with a beautiful German singer and accidentally becomes South Dakota’s first Black Governor, with the help of “Jim”. Script it, find actors, shoot the movie! Then reality will follow the movie!
Cory, I agree and disagree with you on this.
The rail system is supposed to be private companies operating under licence of the state.
With the exception of a few scenic trains, passenger rail service is a money loser. When the National Railroad Passenger Corporation offered to take over passenger rail service, of course freight companies were eager to dump passenger service. In most cases around the world passenger rail service is run by the government and is heavily subsidised.
There was a study done recently about ridership between Minneapolis/St. Paul to Denver, going through Sioux Falls and Rapid City. it found there wouldn’t be enough riders going from end to end to justify the new line. What the study didn’t take in account is people riding only part of the route. From Sioux Falls to Rapid City for example.
I would say about 80 to 95 % of the current rails need to be completely rebuilt. This is going to take a lot of money (billions even trillions) and a lot of man hours.
Dakota Minnesota and Eastern attempted to upgrade and expand the East West route into the Powder River Basin to transport coal to Chicago. The upgrade was opposed by every community along the rail line. Even a Minnesota City hired a South Dakota Attorney to oppose the upgrade.
From what I can tell, people want passenger rail service, the freight that trains deliver, and even jobs from companies that use rail service, they just don’t like the trains.
We need rail for both passenger and freight. We need our state, communities and private companies to step up.
MC, are passenger rail services in other countries all non-profit/state enterprises? Can companies make money anywhere selling passenger rail travel?
Can you dig up a link to that study on Minneapolis–Denver rail service?
Kristi:
“This weekend, it cost me $90 to travel more than 300 miles on Amtrak between Hudson NY and Baltimore–with a beautiful ride along the river and a transfer at handsome new Moynihan Station.”
But fireworks above the national forest….btw, loved your camo ensemble overseeing the second big Schroeder forest fire!
Government fills the gaps where capitalism fails, right?
http://interested-party.blogspot.com/2021/04/amtrak-service-is-not-impossible-across.html