Commuter Rail Technical Feasibility Study December 2001Volume II: Technical Appendixcc237APPENDIX BCAPACITY MODELINGMEMORANDUMMLM Draft – 9/1/01COMMUTER RAIL CORRIDORFEASIBILITY STUDYPREPAREDFORTHE RAMSEY COUNTY REGIONAL RAILAUTHORITYBYMAINLINE MANAGEMENT, INC.SEPTEMBER 1, 2001MLM DRAFT –9/1/0111. 0 INTRODUCTIONMainLine Management, Inc. (“MLM”), a transportation consulting and analysis firm, hasanalyzed the railroad line capacity requirements associated with the feasibility ofimplementing commuter rail service between Minneapolis, MN and St. Paul, MN. Otherstudies are being performed concurrently to determine ridership potential, environmentalimpact, operational and financial feasibility for commuter rail service over a corridordesignated as the Central Corridor (“CC”). The Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority(“RCRRA”) is sponsoring the analysis of the proposed commuter corridor. Operationswould use one of two possible freight routes: the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway(“BNSF”) Midway Subdivision or the Canadian Pacific Railway (“CP”) Merriam ParkSubdivision. The CP route would be in conjunction with a segment of MinnesotaCommercial Railroad (“MC”) and a portion of BNSF’s Midway and Wayzata Subs. MLManalyzed both routes to determine the feasibility of implementing commuter operations oneach one.MLM’s analytical efforts were performed for the purpose of determining whether commuteroperations could feasibly be introduced on either of the two corridors. MLM employedoperating and analytical practices normal and customary in such analyses in making itsassessments. It is important to note, however, that the infrastructure improvements andoperating considerations identified in this report are not intended to represent a definitive listof improvement requirements sufficient to satisfy the policies and requirements of theinvolved railroads. Furtherance of this project to the planning and design stage willundoubtedly require the active cooperation of the involved railroads in detailed analysis,planning and design criterion.MLM found that it is feasible to implement commuter operations on either corridor andsimultaneously maintain the existing freight capacity. Additions in capacity infrastructurehad to be created to maintain the existing capacity for freight operations. A list ofimprovements and the operational results of MLM’s analyses are described in more detail inthe Results section of this report.The goal of railroad line capacity analyses is to measure the demand on capacity over theexisting rail network and compare it to capacity demand over the network after the proposedcommuter trains have been added. Infrastructure improvements are then added to thenetwork in the commuter case to reestablish the base level of capacity demand as previouslydetermined prior to introducing commuter operations. It is MLM’s experience that railroadswill require the freight capacity to be equal to or slightly better than the freight-only caseafter commuters have been introduced.Interviews with BNSF, MC and CP, conducted prior to the simulations, indicated that neitherrailroad has scheduled or budgeted for capital improvements on the two corridors for theforeseeable future, an indication the railroads are comfortable with the available freightcapacity for near term future. Planned capital improvement information is required prior tosimulating the network because those improvements must be included as part of the “base”network, which has been paid for and is owned by the freight railroads. BNSF and CP willMLM DRAFT –9/1/012expect any improvements made in connection with the introduction of commuter operationsto be paid for by the commuter operation.The primary tool to determine capacity of the network and the feasibility of introducingcommuter service is computer model simulation. The simulation model used in this projectis the Rail Traffic Controller (“RTC”), which is also utilized by all major freight railroadsinvolved on the corridor. A more detailed description of how the simulations wereperformed is included later in this report.2.0 TRACK CONFIGURATION AND FREIGHT OPERATIONSThe analysis, as mentioned above, studied two possible routes between St. Paul Union Depotand Minneapolis. The station in Minneapolis currently being considered in the NorthStarCorridor Development Authority (“NCDA”) commuter operation was also used as thewestern terminus of the Central Corridor simulations. All NCDA trains were included in thesimulation in conjunction with the CC trains, including the Base case.The BNSF and CP routes between St. Paul Union Depot and Minneapolis can be segmentedto describe current operations. The following section will briefly discuss each segment andthe traffic types that utilize them. The segments include:• St. Paul Union Depot to Seventh St. (Midway route)• Seventh St. to St. Anthony (Midway route)• St. Paul Union Depot to St. Anthony (Merriam Park route)• St. Anthony to Minneapolis depot (both routes)Figure 1.0 provides a diagram of the Twin Cities network, which includes the abovesegments. For purposes of this report, Minneapolis depot is considered west and St. PaulUnion Depot is considered east. All other directions are based upon those endpoints.As mentioned previously, this study was performed at a feasibility level of analysis. MLMwas directed not to include additional passenger trains for a proposed Amtrak expansion, northe proposed commuter operations between Hastings, MN and St. Paul (Red Rock corridor)for this feasibility analysis. Additionally, no dead head moves for CC trains were included inthe simulation, representing moves to or from maintenance or layover facilities. Should theproject be approved for continuation, these additional moves would need to be included infuture simulations. Further, MLM recommends that a network analysis of the combinedCentral, Red Rock and North Star corridors should be undertaken as an overall study ofcapacity and equipment requirements, and ancillary services integration.MLM DRAFT –9/1/013Figure 1: Simulated Twin Cities Network2.1 St. Paul Union Depot to Seventh StreetSt. Paul Union Depot (BNSF MP 0.0, CP MP 410.3) to Seventh St. (MP 0.5) is a 0.7 milesegment that connects the depot to the joint BNSF/CP main line between Minneapolis andChicago. The connection is a main line route for Union Pacific Railroad (“UP”), connectingits line from Kansas
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