St. Louis Park Council Set to Stand Against Freight Reroute

The St. Louis Park City Council appears set to formally stand against a proposed freight rail reroute through town.

On Monday night, the council discussed a draft resolution (Editor's Note: See attached PDF) that states that the city is ultimately opposed to a reroute plan that would bring new traffic to the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway (MN&S) route in St. Louis Park because the council believes a viable alternative exists—namely, leaving freight trains in Minneapolis’ Kenilworth Corridor, despite a plan to add light rail in the same area.

The MN&S route currently carries two trains per day, and runs north and south through the city, winding past in the process.

Six of the seven St. Louis Park council members said they oppose the MN&S reroute, meaning some version of the resolution is likely to pass when it comes up for a vote next Tuesday. Only Ward 2’s Anne Mavity said she would not oppose the MN&S reroute. Ward 2 is in the southern part of St. Louis Park, and Mavity said keeping freight on the Kenilworth Corridor—freight that heads to tracks in her district after leaving Minneapolis—would create the traffic and safety nightmare of having freight and light rail near busy areas, such as the Wooddale Avenue and Highway 7 intersection.

Mavity added that both options “require changes to the status quo,” implying that other council members are only associating negative consequences with the MN&S plan—not the Kenilworth plan.

Councilwoman Susan Santa, who represents Ward 3, said she disagreed with Mavity. Santa said she is worried that rerouting the trains through St. Louis Park on the MN&S would create a “mini-Kenilworth Corridor” that could divide the city.

“I don’t want to see neighborhoods devastated, destroyed,” Santa said. “Frankly, we have a really good Kenilworth Corridor. Why reroute that here?”

Ward 1 councilwoman Susan Sanger agreed, and added that keeping freight trains in the Kenilworth Corridor is simply a cheaper, more efficient plan. According to estimates made by the city, making the Kenilworth option suitable for freight and light rail would cost between $55 million and $77.6 million. Rerouting trains onto the MN&S would cost an estimated $76.7 million to $125.7 million.

The discussion over moving trains from Minneapolis to St. Louis Park was set in motion because the Kenilworth Corridor was pegged as an ideal location for part of the proposed Southwest Transitway light rail line, which is planned to break ground in 2014. Generally, federal regulators do not like to see freight track running side-by-side with pedestrian trains, so rerouting Kenilworth’s current traffic came up as a possibility. Last summer, the St. Louis Park council issued a resolution stating its opposition to the MN&S reroute unless it could be shown that no other viable alternatives exist. Tuesday’s expected resolution will piggy-back on that, stating that the city’s conditions have not been met.

While the city is expected to take a strong stance, it might not matter much. Several city officials, including Mayor Jeff Jacobs, have acknowledged that St. Louis Park likely will have very little sway in the matter, as a decision could be dominated by Hennepin County, the state, the federal government and the various impacted rail companies.

"I wish the city had a lot more control over (the reroute decision)," Jacobs said in an earlier interview. "We don’t have much to do with it."