You might not expect Abraham Lincoln to be relevant to a discussion of future transit options for the Twin Cities.

But for former teacher and current state Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City, who was also appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty as the state's "Lincoln commissioner," the 16th president provides some inspiration as debate begins over a proposed passenger rail line between Willmar and Minneapolis.

"The Republican Party, if you go way back, was a leader in transit. Abraham Lincoln was the first transit president," Urdahl said. But much more recently, Urdahl acknowledged, the party has been more skeptical of rail projects. "There are cost concerns, and I share those concerns, but with this I want to look ahead and see if it can be done, if it does make economic sense."

Urdahl's bipartisan proposal, announced along with state Sen. Terri Bonoff, DFL-Minnetonka, will create the Little Crow Transit Way, a passenger-rail service that would use existing freight tracks that in the western suburbs run relatively parallel to Interstate 394 and Hwy. 12. Unlike the Hiawatha light-rail line, it would be commuter rail similar to the Northstar line that will soon start operating between Minneapolis and Big Lake to the north.

It remains to be seen how the Urdahl-Bonoff proposal will fit into the comprehensive statewide rail plan that's expected to be released by the end of the year by the Minnesota Department of Transportation's Office of Passenger Rail. The plan will be a critical tool for the state's stakeholders as they try to put hard numbers on cost and ridership estimates and the resulting cost-benefit analyses -- not just between lines but also between rail and roadways.

Ideally, these hard numbers will take some of the hardball politics out of the process. At least that's the hope of Bonoff. "It's no longer a situation where every legislator has to lobby for their little piece," she says. "There is now going to be a statewide plan; it's going to be data-driven decisionmaking, and we are going to do the work necessary to figure out the best way to have a statewide multimodal transit system."

Yet political roadblocks and other challenges like those faced by the Central Corridor light-rail project continue to make transit a hot-button issue. The ongoing dispute between the Met Council and the University of Minnesota over noise mitigation may yet derail that project. "I am very nervous about it," said Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, who has tried to mediate the mitigation efforts. "But there is still a path here that allows this thing to keep going. And it's a disaster if the project gets delayed because then the queue gets backed up and we look foolish to the feds like we don't have our act together again the way we used to."

At the same time, U.S. Rep. James Oberstar is at odds with the Obama administration over the proposed $450 billion, six-year Surface Transportation Bill the Minnesota Democrat is shepherding in his role as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. On Wednesday Oberstar pledged to "roll over" the administration if it sticks to its desire to delay the bill for 18 months.

Meanwhile, MnDOT announced applications for $382 million in federal stimulus money for four rail projects involving an extension of the Northstar line to St. Cloud, as well as work that would be needed for a proposed high-speed rail link to Chicago up through Duluth. And next week, cost and ridership estimates for what will probably be the next metro light-rail line, the Southwest Transitway from Minneapolis to Eden Prairie, will be released.

With all of these competing rail projects, it's probably inevitable that the process will soon turn back to politics. But comprehensive statewide planning is overdue, and collaboration between metro officials and those in greater Minnesota will minimize infighting in the state and lead to smart transit decisions."A house divided against itself cannot stand," Lincoln said, in a quote Urdahl and Bonoff should appreciate.