Continued: High-speed train from Chicago: Next stop, Minneapolis?

With $8 billion in the federal stimulus package devoted to high-speed rail projects, supporters of the long-planned high-speed train from Chicago to St. Paul are scrambling to prepare a proposal strong enough to grab some of that money.

But a new player has entered the picture: Hennepin County, which wants the high-speed line extended to Minneapolis.

Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin convinced his county board colleagues last week to pass by a 6-1 vote a resolution asking that "appropriate proposals" be developed to include Minneapolis in the high-speed route.

"The world changed when $8 billion appeared," McLaughlin said. "To continue marching to the same drum before $8 billion became available is short-sighted and ultimately will cause problems. ...

"This is the moment to be defining the big vision, and we should be defining it expansively. You don't want to have to go back and beg the federal government to add [Minneapolis] back. It's just bad strategy."

Not so fast, says Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough.

After years of planning for the $1.2 billion Chicago-to-St. Paul line, he said he is willing to study extending the line to Minneapolis and is continuing to talk with McLaughlin about that. But he thinks the line should remain the Chicago-to-St. Paul high-speed line.

"We need to come to agreement as soon as possible," McDonough said. "But I just can't agree that it makes sense to automatically add Minneapolis. I need the numbers, what the investment is, what the ridership would be, or are there other investments that could strengthen the whole system."

The debate is more than a spat between the east and west metro, which have battled over transportation spending before. With the sudden potential to turn dreams of high-speed rail into reality, Rochester also is pushing hard to have the federally designated route moved to pass through that city.

Differences need to be settled soon, because within 60 days the U.S. Secretary of Transportation is expected to submit a strategic plan for high-speed rail to U.S. House and Senate appropriations committees, with more details coming within 120 days.

Both county commissioners and several state legislators agreed it's critical to present a unified front so the high-speed proposal can compete for funding with projects from other states. They hope Minnesota and Wisconsin will jointly submit an application for the line, which is anticipated to have a 110-mile-per-hour train running mostly along existing rail routes. At that speed, an express trip would take 5 1/2 hours.

DFL State Rep. Alice Hausman of St. Paul is one of 26 state legislators from both parties who signed a February letter on high-speed rail to Sen. Amy Klobuchar and four U.S. representatives from Minnesota. The letter urged them to work with their Wisconsin colleagues on the project, which the letter says would run from Chicago to "St. Paul's Union Depot and possibly Minneapolis."

The letter goes on to say, "...we plan to request funds to study the option of continuing the route on to Minneapolis at this time, and the future development of the line into other regions of the state."

Hausman said she feels strongly that it's time to "think big."

"This is a chance for 100 percent funding," she said in an interview. "I think the fear of St. Paul was that we would be bypassed entirely. That would have been devastating. Once you know how this system works, you can't be bypassed.

"I think we are all on board. It think we're united. I think Minneapolis is clearly saying, 'We support the route to St. Paul.'"

McLaughlin said: "This isn't about kicking St. Paul in the shins. It's about creating a 21st-century rail system that reflects the fact that this is a dual hub in one metro area."

President Obama's Chicago roots and apparent affinity for rail -- he rode a train from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., in the days leading up to his inauguration -- could give the Chicago-to-Twin Cities proposal extra weight, McLaughlin says.

He doesn't believe the planned Central Corridor light-rail line between Minneapolis and St. Paul is an adequate substitute for more comfortable and faster high-speed rail. Transferring to a planned light-rail line in St. Paul could be a deterrent to Chicagoans who want to take high-speed rail right into Minneapolis, he said.

If the line reached Minneapolis, McLaughlin said, it could hook up with the transit hub that's planned near the new Twins stadium. The North Star line and Hiawatha and Central Corridor light rail lines will stop there, as would planned light rail lines running to the southwest and north as well as passenger rail to Duluth. Hausman said there has even been interest in eventually extending high-speed rail from Minneapolis to Fargo-Moorhead.

"We're thinking big, and we should," McLaughlin said.

McDonough prefers a slower approach. With a $900 million pricetag for the Central Corridor light rail, he said "it is premature" to say a high-speed extension to Minneapolis is worth it, either financially -- a figure that has yet to be determined -- or as an efficient mover of people. He worries that stretching the line to Minneapolis could weaken longtime investment in the already-planned high-speed route.

And a high-speed train isn't high-speed if it keeps stopping, McDonough said. He believes it's conceivable that light rail could be a faster connection between St. Paul and Minneapolis than high-speed rail.

"In Hennepin and Ramsey, we all have a stake in having a balanced transit system," McDonough said. But, he said, "not every one of those lines needs to go to every place."

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said he strongly supports extending the high-speed line to his city. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman could not be reached for comment.

DFL State Rep. Frank Hornstein of Minneapolis is one of the signers of the letter to the state's congressional delegation. After witnessing past tension over east-west transportation issues, he said he's encouraged by the bipartisanship that he sees now from most involved.

"People are hungry for this all over the state," Hornstein said. "Our goal is to maximize what Minnesota can get. Minneapolis brings in a lot of the riders, and that is what makes this proposal attractive."

Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380