MN: EDITORIAL: Environment Regional rail idea worth discussing

While the Mankato City Council seemed to show little enthusiasm at a recent meeting for participating in a regional rail plan, the idea has merit and is worth determining local citizen interest in Mankato's involvement.

The council reviewed an updated regional rail plan by the Minnesota Department of Transportation that calls for regional partners to come together for a planning effort and assessment of the viability of a passenger train from Mankato to the Twin Cities. Several other local entities have signed on to participate including the city of St. Peter, Northfield and Albert Lea as well as Gustavus Adolphus College and St. Olaf College.

Mankato was asked to join the coalition of support.

While the council didn't sign on at a recent meeting, it agreed to allow city staff to determine if there is local interest among residents. That's a good first step, and we hope staff can determine citizen interest by the necessary deadlines in a few months to get on board the effort.

Of course, cars and other vehicles are one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases (about 20% in the U.S.) that fuels climate change, so any chance to reduce that contribution by taking more vehicles off the roads and providing mass transportation is worthy of consideration.

The city's effort to get residents' input is a good first step to determining interest. Area residents may not be ready to consider rail transportation and the drive from Mankato to the Twin Cities is neither arduous nor time consuming. And certainly there must be some degree of confidence that a new train to the Twin Cities can be cost effective.

Passenger trains are generally not profitable in the traditional sense of the word. But the cost of removing greenhouse gases and carbon monoxide from the atmosphere has a real financial benefit. We only need look at the devastation of California wildfires estimated to cost $135 billion and Hurricane Helene, costing $250 billion, to know that climate changed fueled by greenhouse gases extracts a tremendous financial cost on society.

By comparison, the train between Mankato and the Twin Cities would cost about $300 million and have operating costs of about $14 million a year.

We urge the city to make a strong effort to get resident input on this plan. With various environmental citizen groups in the area, one would expect some interest.

Passenger rail may sound expensive, but it's not as expensive as doing nothing about climate change.

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