[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 136 (Friday, September 27, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11488-S11489]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  DAKOTA, MINNESOTA, AND EASTERN RAILROAD CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, this month marks the 10th anniversary of 
the Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern [DME] Railroad. The DME is South 
Dakota's only statewide railroad and operates more than 1,100 miles. I 
offer my heartfelt congratulations to the DME. I particularly commend 
the many dedicated workers and officials who have worked to make DME 
such a successful rail service provider. All associated with DME should 
be proud.
  I recall back in 1983 when I first became involved in a lengthy 
battle to preserve critical rail service slated for abandonment. The 
Chicago and NorthWestern was planning to abandon 167-miles connecting 
Ft. Pierre and Rapid City. That fight ultimately lead to establishment 
of the DME.
  At first, many were skeptical about DME's prospect for success. Those 
same skeptics are believers today. DME's annual revenue and freight 
tonnage have doubled during the past 10 years. So has its number of 
employees. And, more than $90 million has been invested in main line 
infrastructure improvements during that same period.
  I am proud to have played a role both in DME's creation and its 
successes. I have enjoyed working closely with rail shippers and DME to 
advance this critical transportation service. I remain committed to 
doing all I can to promote adequate and effective rail service for our 
State.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that an article by Roger 
Larson and an editorial printed in the Huron Daily Plainsman detailing 
the DME odyssey be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                    [From the Huron Daily Plainsman]

                      Laying Tracks for the Future

                           (By Roger Larsen)

       Larry Pressler says 1989 marked the beginning of what he 
     now calls his ``DM&E odyssey.''
       Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad officials are more 
     direct. Without the senator's intervention, they say, their 
     corporation wouldn't exist.
       And South Dakota's roads would be taking a severe pounding.
       ``If we weren't here, it would probably take about 50,000 
     semis hauling on the state and U.S. highways here in South 
     Dakota, which would certainly cost the state a lot more money 
     in road and bridge maintenance,'' said Lynn Anderson, DM&E's 
     vice president for marketing and public affairs.
       Looking back on their first 10 years in operation, DM&E 
     officials say Pressler, at substantial political risk, was 
     instrumental in the railroad's creation and survival.
       It hasn't always been a smooth ride.
       The short-line railroad was born out of necessity--and a 
     sense of urgency--when the Chicago & North Western Railroad 
     announced in 1983 that it wanted to abandon 167 miles of 
     track between Pierre and Rapid City.
       Pressler received an emergency phone call. Could he send a 
     representative to a meeting of shippers and others in Philip?
       He went himself.
       ``I worked with local shippers in organizing an abandonment 
     protest,'' he said. ``That triggered a formal ICC (Interstate 
     Commerce Commission) investigation.''
       As C&NW pushed forward with its abandonment plans, an ICC 
     field hearing was conducted in September 1983.
       ``The ICC decision in November denied the abandonment 
     request,'' Pressler said.
       The ruling by the administrative law judge surprised more 
     than a few people who had become resigned to the situation.
       But the judge based his decision on ``the serious impact of 
     the loss of rail service on rural and community development 
     or the lack of any viable rail or motor carrier alternatives 
     to that service.''
       ``At that time, I was the only public official in the state 
     who believed the 167-mile stretch could be saved,'' Pressler 
     said.
       Anderson doesn't believe the senator is overstating his 
     involvement.
       ``Well, I think he was the key individual that worked to 
     keep the railroad in place between Pierre and Rapid City,'' 
     he said. ``Without the things he did and the support he 
     gathered, I think there's a good likelihood the line would 
     have been abandoned.''
       The judge's decision, Pressler said, ``allowed us more time 
     to work with C&NW to find a long-range solution to the 
     Pierre-to-Rapid-City line problem. It was the only route west 
     for years.''
       Still, C&NW remained adamant. It appealed the ruling to the 
     full ICC. In February 1984, it was upheld on a tie vote.
       By August, the railroad again announced it would continue 
     its efforts to abandon the track.
       ``C&NW made it clear that there was no interest in 
     compromise,'' Pressler said. ``They wanted to get rid of it. 
     Early attempts to come up with a long-term solution seemed to 
     fall on deaf ears.''
       Eyebrows were raised in January 1985 when C&NW extended its 
     abandonment plans all

[[Page S11489]]

     the way to Wolsey, pushing the total to 273 miles. The 
     Aberdeen to Oakes line in northeastern South Dakota was also 
     being considered for abandonment.
       C&NW declined invitations to negotiate. The future of the 
     rail lines looked bleak.
       A breakthrough came when Pressler intervened in a proposed 
     sale of Conrail to the Norfolk Southern Railroad, a merger 
     that C&NW claimed would cost it $60 million a year in traffic 
     diversions.
       In return, C&NW approached the negotiating table with a 
     commitment to find a potential buyer of its South Dakota 
     track.
       And in dramatic fashion, those along the track provided a 
     huge show of support.
       ``C&NW joined me in a day-long working train trip in May 
     1985.'' Pressler said. ``We rode in a rail car between Rapid 
     City and Pierre. Twelve hundred people turned out along the 
     way to express their support for continued service. That 
     really helped turn things around with C&NW officials.''
       For the first time, the shortline or regional railroad 
     concept was introduced.
       And that trip across South Dakota's prairie seemed to have 
     a calming effect on the players.
       ``It coalesced everyone,'' Pressler said. ``It was the 
     first time all sides sat down and discussed the issue with 
     the uniform goal to make the line work. Everyone agreed it 
     would take some give and take.''
       At a rail conference in September 1985, C&NW outlined a 
     divestiture proposal which led to the birth of the DM&E 
     Railroad.
       A year later, the new railroad's locomotives were pulling 
     cars full of grain, lumber, wood chips, bentonite clay and 
     cement.
       This summer, 100 miles of deteriorated track between 
     Wessington and Pierre has been upgraded with new, 115-pound 
     rail. This $20 million project is being financed by a bond 
     issue the railroad will repay over 20 years with no state 
     dollars.
       The project is two months ahead of schedule. Crews are in 
     the stretch run, laying new track between Blunt and Pierre.
       In May, DM&E added 203 miles to its system when it 
     purchased the ``Colony Line'' from the Union Pacific 
     Railroad.
       The line connects with the DM&E at Rapid City and extends 
     north to Bentonite near Colony, Wyo., and south to Crawford 
     and Chadron, Neb., where it links with Burlington Northern 
     Santa Fe and Nebkota Railway.
       ``We are looking forward to a smooth transition'' DM&E 
     president J.C. ``Pete'' McIntyre said when the sale was 
     announced.
       The railroad purchased 12 more locomotives and hired 50 
     employees, increasing the workforce to more than 300.
       ``These are good-paying jobs and benefits,'' Pressler said.
       Also, the railroad announced it is spending more than $32 
     million for 625 new freight cars, including 325 covered 
     hoppers to haul cement from South Dakota Cement Plant at 
     Rapid City.
       Others--such as grain elevators along the rail line--have 
     made major improvements as well.
       It's obvious to Anderson that had C&NW been successful in 
     its abandonment efforts, the line wouldn't have been rebuilt.
       ``Business would have gone over to the Nebraska line,'' he 
     said.
       But because it didn't--and rail traffic now travels in 
     South Dakota--it means long-term economic development for the 
     state, he said.
       ``The C&NW had rerouted traffic out of the Black Hills to 
     Nebraska,'' he said. ``When they failed to abandon the line 
     from Rapid City to Pierre, they decided to sell it.
       ``After we began operations, and began upgrading the line 
     and showed the ability to handle the carload business, we 
     convinced C&NW to reroute that traffic coming across South 
     Dakota in lieu of Nebraska.''
       And then C&NW decided to abandon the Nebraska line.
       ``The reverse could have happened,'' Anderson said.
       Ten years ago, one of the first repainted C&NW locomotives 
     was named the ``Larry Pressler.'' Since then, locomotives 
     have carried the names of cities along DM&E's service area.
       The railroad also honored him by naming a Rapid City 
     intersection ``Pressler Junction.''
       Pressler admits he was like a kid in a candy store on a 
     particularly memorable trip back home.
       ``They let me drive a locomotive a little bit once,'' he 
     said.
                                                                    ____


                   DM&E Keeps S.D. on the Right Track

       In the middle of the night, a train whistle carries a 
     mournful, lonely sound on the prairie air.
       As homesteaders pushed westward in the 19th century, the 
     advent of trains signaled hope and opportunity in the 
     uncertain vastness of Dakota Territory.
       Today, they continue to represent a kind of comforting 
     stability.
       They have become as familiar to the landscape as rolling 
     grasslands and an endless horizon. But trains in much of west 
     and central South Dakota were nearly derailed by a corporate 
     stroke of the pen a decade ago.
       Chicago & North Western Railroad wanted to abandon its 
     deteriorating track between Rapid City and Wolsey. It talked 
     about walking away from its line between Aberdeen and Oakes, 
     N.D., as well.
       In historic fashion, shippers circled their wagons and 
     waited for reinforcements. And, as their forefathers had done 
     with other territorial disputes, they pushed for a reasonable 
     solution.
       Into the mix came Sen. Larry Pressler, R-S.D., who 
     rightfully used his political standing in Washington to force 
     field hearings.
       In the end, it came down to a little give-and-take. C&NW's 
     back was scratched when a railroad merger elsewhere in the 
     country--which could have hurt its bottom line--was opposed 
     by Pressler. In return, the boys in the C&NW boardroom agreed 
     to find a buyer for the track it wanted to abandon in South 
     Dakota.
       Thus, the birth of Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad.
       DM&E has been a good corporate neighbor in its first 10 
     years. It has proven it can handle the needs of shippers, 
     farmers and other customers up and down its 900-mile line.
       And it's doing something else that's certainly long 
     overdue.
       It's putting its money--and longterm viability--where its 
     mouth is.
       With the current track upgrade between Wolsey and Pierre 
     nearly complete, DM&E has invested some $90 million in 
     infrastructure. Millions more dollars have been committed to 
     purchase hundreds of new rail cars.
       Trains have had a romantic, endearing quality in this part 
     of the country for well over a century.
       For those who truly care about the future, their whistles 
     will continue to beckon with faith and anticipation.

                          ____________________