Freight Rail Reroute on the Agenda This Week

The Southwest Light Rail Transit project’s freight rail reroute and co-location alternatives will be discussed at two meetings this week.

The Southwest LRT Business Advisory Committee will take up the issue at a Wednesday morning that begins at 8 a.m. Technical issues having to do with the freight rail reroute and co-location options are expected to begin at 9:05 a.m.

The Southwest LRT Community Advisory Committee will discuss the issue at a Thursday meeting that begin at 6 p.m. Discussion of the freight rail issues is scheduled to begin at 7:35 p.m.

Both meetings are in Suite 500 of the Park Place West Building (6465 Wayzata Blvd., St. Louis Park).

Freight rail routing has been particularly contentious part of the Southwest LRT project—particularly in St. Louis Park. Planners have proposed relocating of the Twin Cities & Western freight line, which currently operates on a planned segment of the Southwest LRT. 

Nearby residents say the additional, heavier freight traffic on the tracks would lower property values, disrupt nearby St. Louis Park High School and be more dangerous. They prefer putting the Twin Cities & Western freight line in the same corridor as the light rail—an option known as “co-location.”