New tax proposed to pay for rail crossing safety improvements

A plan put forward by Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Mpls) would place a new tax on railroads to cover the cost of safety improvements at some of the state's most dangerous highway-grade rail crossings.

HF1251 proposes to assess major rail carriers up to $32.5 million annually to fund fixes that Hornstein said are needed because of the heavy increase in trains transporting oil through the state from North Dakota's booming Bakken fields.

Rep. Frank Hornstein

"We believe the railroads who are benefiting enormously ... do have a responsibility," Hornstein said during a hearing on his bill Monday evening before the House Transportation Policy and Finance Committee. The cost of grade separation improvements "should not be solely on the backs of taxpayers."

The committee held the bill over for possible inclusion in a later transportation bill. A companion, SF1338 sponsored by Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope) awaits action in the Senate Transportation and Public Safety Committee.

The risk of catastrophic train derailments involving highly-flammable Bakken crude — as well as lengthy trains cutting towns in half and impeding public safety response — is a serious issue facing the state that requires state officials to take a new approach, Hornstein said.

[MORE: View a map of the state's 15 highest-risk at-grade rail crossings identified by MnDOT]

Railroad officials and some Republican members criticized the bill and the burden the proposed assessment would place on rail carriers, with one industry official calling the bill "unprecedented."

Rep. John Petersburg (R-Waseca) said he understood the need for grade-separation safety improvements but is struggling with Hornstein's proposed means to pay for them.

"I'm hard-pressed to see how this assessment benefits the railroads," he said.

The bill proposes to allocate assessment revenues to the Department of Transportation for construction of grade separations at crossings identified in a recent MnDOT rail crossing report. The fixes would be focused on corridors where crude oil and other hazardous materials are transported through populated areas.

Brian Sweeney, a government affairs official with Burlington Northern-Santa Fe, said many of the grade separation projects pre-date the surge in oil trains on the state's rail system. A small number of train derailments nationally are caused by accidents at at-grade crossings, he said, citing a recent University of Illinois study.

"We don't think this is really about oil (nor) is really about safety," Sweeney said.

The city of Coon Rapids, located in the northwest metro, is home to two dangerous at-grade crossings identified in the recent MnDOT study. John Piper, the city's fire chief characterized the assessment and crossing improvements as critical to safety.

"Anything we can do to keep cars and trains apart is going to be tremendously helpful," he said.