Politics & Government

Neighbors Protest Southwest LRT Freight Rail Plan

Numerous people showed up at open houses Thursday.

Southwest Light Rail Transit planners have new proposals for how to manage freight rail in St. Louis Park, but residents are as adamant as ever that a reroute would hurt their neighborhoods.

Critics of the reroute plan “showed up in full force” to protest at a Thursday evening open house to discuss what to do with freight rail once light rail comes through, KSTP reported. In addition, about 100 people visited a morning session to talk about the project, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

Freight rail routing has been a particularly contentious part of the Southwest LRT discussion in St. Louis Park.

Planners have proposed relocating Twin Cities & Western (TC&W) freight trains, which currently run on a planned segment of the Southwest LRT, to Canadian Pacific and BNSF routes that opponents say aren’t meant for the longer trains that TC&W uses.

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 keeping the TC&W freight line in the same corridor as the light rail—an option known as “co-location.”

The Met Council announcement spelled out two relocation options that it said would “have gentler curves and a flatter alignment” and be safer than the DEIS plan.

Those options are: 

  • “Building freight tracks through the existing St. Louis Park High School football field, which would be relocated to reunite with the main campus. This reroute concept is referred to as the Brunswick West freight rail relocation alignment.”
  • “Building freight tracks that skirt the field to the east. This reroute concept is referred to as the Brunswick Central freight rail relocation alignment.”

It also listed six co-location options that would keep TC&W in Minneapolis’ Kenilworth corridor.

  • “Building LRT tracks along the freight tracks and trail, with all modes at ground level.”
  • “Relocating the trail out of the corridor between the Midtown Greenway and Cedar Lake Parkway.”
  • “Elevating the trail.”
  • “Building a shallow tunnel for LRT tracks.”
  • “Building deep twin tunnels, with one tunnel for each LRT track.”
  • “Elevating LRT tracks.”

The Met Council noted that both co-location and relocation options will affect homes and businesses.

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Click here to check out schematics of the options.


Find out what's happening in St. Louis Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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