MANKATO — There’s some disappointment and discouragement emanating from Mankato’s City Hall as Sen. Norm Coleman becomes more and more forceful in his rhetoric about a controversial railroad expansion project — all of it focused on protecting Rochester and the Mayo Clinic from the potential negative impacts.

“My frustration has been that everybody’s putting their stock in Rochester’s plight, and Mayo’s,” said Mankato City Manager Pat Hentges.

They want Coleman to remember there’s another city that could be damaged by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad’s ambitious plan to run dozens of additional trains through the region daily — most of them hauling Wyoming coal to other states.

Mankato and Blue Earth County are more concerned with each passing day that the most unfavorable scenario might play out, one that has two increasingly busy rail corridors slicing through the greater Mankato area.

“It’s the worst of both worlds,” Hentges said.

Caught in the middle

The concern is that Sioux Falls-based DM&E; will be forced to build a new bypass south of Mankato because of opposition by the Union Pacific Railroad to allowing a parallel track for DM&E; coal trains beside the UP’s track through Mankato. The DM&E; now uses a stretch of UP track in and around Mankato to connect to the DM&E; line east and west of the city.

But the UP is showing reluctance to help the DM&E; with its expansion into the coal business, an expansion that would turn a second-class railroad into a major competitor for the UP in delivering fuel to Midwest power plants.

The DM&E; has federal approval to build a bypass south of Mankato, roughly along the route of Blue Earth County Road 90 and stretching south and east of Eagle Lake where it would connect to its existing line. It’s an expensive prospect for the DM&E; and an engineering challenge, but the railroad is pursuing it — either to boost its negotiating leverage with the UP or to have a back-up plan for completing its expansion project if a UP deal proves unworkable.

“We very much don’t like that south route and would like to improve the (in-city) one that’s there today,” said DM&E; President Kevin Schieffer. “But if you put all the eggs in that one basket, you have no way to negotiate an agreement that works.”

Mankato’s preference

While the UP is expected to be reluctant to ease the path of a potential competitor, an agreement with the DM&E; would allow the UP’s Mankato rail corridor to be improved at the DM&E;’s expense. Expectations by the city are for overpasses or trestles at Third Avenue and Mound Avenue, safer crossings for other streets and the closing of low-volume streets.

There would also be a pedestrian bridge over the Blue Earth River, security fencing and vegetative screening to make the rail corridor less dangerous and more attractive. And the ultimate benefit for homeowners and businesses along the corridor could be a whistle-free passageway for trains through the city — one so safe that federal regulations would allow trains to skip the ear-splitting horns now blown at virtually every crossing.

Those sorts of improvements would benefit the UP as well, said Hentges, who said that railroad has improved its track on both sides of Mankato. The improvements indicate to him the UP is planning to boost train traffic through the city in coming years.

And that’s what generates Hentges’ “worst of both worlds” worries. A busier line through the city with no DM&E-financed; improvements and a new rail line south of town that would disrupt Skyline, possibly put Mount Kato out of business, rock the serenity of the Le Sueur River Valley and block the city’s natural growth area to the south and southeast.

Heading south?

Earlier this year, homeowners south of Mankato were concerned to see DM&E; contractors doing soil borings in preparation for drawing up bypass plans. Now a consultant for the railroad is sending out letters to landowners inviting them to meetings to discuss alternatives to condemnation.

While the letter repeatedly emphasizes the DM&E; prefers the in-city route, it says preparations for “the fallback option” are necessary.

“Because your land would be impacted by the M-2 (bypass) alternative, we are contacting you so all interested parties are fully briefed on and prepared for that potential. ... This letter is intended to begin a dialogue with you on the M-2 Route land acquisition issues. Some or all of your property may need to be acquired to construct the M-2 Route.”

Schieffer said the railroad needs to make preparations for the bypass because the UP would have little inclination to bargain with the DM&E; if its would-be competitor shows no interest in pursuing its back-up plan.

“You lose leverage on the one you want to do,” Schieffer said.

Blue Earth County Admin-istrator Dennis McCoy said he has received information the DM&E; and the UP have traded proposals involving DM&E; use of the Mankato rail corridor. Beyond that, local officials are pretty much in the dark.

“We’re kind of in the void that we don’t have any good information about what these two railroads are saying to each other,” McCoy said.

Even though his county would be dramatically impacted by a new rail corridor bisecting it, McCoy said there appears to be little a local government can do when federal law gives such power to railroads. While it seems obvious to the county the DM&E; and the UP should share the existing corridor, he worries an impasse might develop and the south route will become a real option.

“With each passing day without an agreement between the railroads, that possibility increases,” McCoy said.