Dan Patch Intercity Regional Passenger Rail

[DanPatchToget]

The rail connection blocked by Hennepin County was between CP and BNSF tracks. The wye track mattaudio is referring to is MN&S Junction: https://www.google.com/maps/@45.0453865 ... ?entry=ttu

If a train from the west were to go south it would have to go all the way to Humboldt Yard, bring the locomotives to the other end of the train, and then backtrack to head south on the Dan Patch Line. Completing the wye would make that movement seamless. Here's what that could look like, and shaded in red is the one property that CPKC would need to acquire: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5X791S3cU4Ay5x6E9

Building the new wye and overhauling the Dan Patch Line would cost CPKC hundreds of millions, and there would be massive political and public backlash to running 100-200 car trains filled with who-knows-what through the suburbs, so I don't see that happening. I used to think CP/CPKC would eventually rehab the Dan Patch Line to run trains on the entire route, but then I learned that underneath the tracks is fiber optic cable, and CPKC earns revenue from it. That would explain why they've kept the right-of-way through Savage, Burnsville, and Lakeville for so long without running a single train.