During its work session Monday night, the Austin City Council declined a request to submit a letter of support for the Minnesota State Rail Plan that hopes to develop a passenger Amtrak rail line from the Twin Cities down through Albert Lea, as well as a projected line that would run across southern Minnesota from Wisconsin to South Dakota.
With the possible development of an existing line from Austin that would connect to Albert Lea, the council voted 3-1 to turn down the request with Geoff Baker, Jason Baskin and Paul Fischer voting against and Laura Helle voting for the letter.
The three that voted against the letter cited concerns of fiscal viability, ridership and any money potentially spent by the city would not be a good use of taxpayer money.
The vote is a turn from an earlier City Council move nearly 10 years ago when it voted to support the 2015 plan, which has since been updated.
If established, the line as a whole would extend from the Twin Cities down through Kansas City and into Texas.
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