Mitch and Andy note Sen. Amy Klobuchar's search for wish fulfillment. The reason the train does not come to St. Cloud is a matter of costs and benefits. You barely have a benefit to cost ratio of .85 to get to Big Lake. Given the cost of adding track and the paucity of additional ridership one is likely to get, it scarcely makes sense to extend the line any time in the foreseeable future.

For the riders that would be interested, there is a plan for bus service from St. Cloud to the Big Lake station, reports Larry Schumacher.

A student of mine has written a report on the Hiawatha LRT and notes that closeness to a station improves your property values, but the effect dissipates fairly quickly. More than 2.5 miles away from a station in Bloomington, for example, the economic impact on one's home price is nil.

Labels: Minnesota, Northstar

Mrs. S has penned her latest, arguing that the cost-benefit analysis for Northstar may have changed enough with shifting demographics to justify its build-out to St. Cloud. I do not necessarily agree with her about this, but the push for another CBA has been made around here recently and will likely come to pass shortly.

Labels: Mrs. S, Northstar, trains