There's the DM& E Railroad, and then there's the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern. Monday, according to the Rochester Post Bulletin, six cars of corn derailed:
Two accidents -- a derailment in Austin and a truck collision in Utica -- tied up Iowa, Chicago & Eastern trains Monday.
First, six corn-filled IC&E rail cars owned by Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad derailed Monday morning in Austin. No injuries were reported.
Seems like that's been a probem. The Rapid City Journal offers the DM & E's response after a couple of other accidents within the past few weeks:
Derailments, such as three that occurred in less than two weeks on Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern track, have been a problem for the Sioux Falls-based railroad, DM&E President Kevin Schieffer says. But a proposed upgrade would help solve that problem, he said.
Earlier this month, train cars derailed near Colony, Wyo. Eleven days before that, two trains derailed on the same day — one south of Rapid City and another involving cars of a DM&E sister railroad, the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern, near Cotter, Iowa.
Opponents of the railroad’s plan to upgrade the line say the derailments illustrate a poor safety record. But Schieffer said the project is designed to improve the record.
“It’s a constant problem we’ve had since startup 20 years ago. This railroad was built out of a line someone wanted to abandon,” Schieffer said.
The DM & E is asking for a very large loan to repair its system and also to complete a new section of track to better connect it to the Powder River Basin coal fields.
Are there other pieces of America's rail system that also need to be upgraded? Is the low-coat federal railroad loan well deep enough to go around? Would other rail systems be able to obtain loans if DM & E obtains its request?
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