By The Associated Press
BROOKINGS, S.D. - A special committee set up to review an agreement the Brookings City Council reached with the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad last year has been urged to finish its work faster than planned. Ed Hogan, the group's chairman, said he'd like to see it wrapped up in six months rather than an entire year. The Brookings Railroad Safety Committee held its first meeting last week. In November, Brookings voters rejected the council's community partnership agreement with the DM&E. The committee could determine whether or how the agreement should be changed to improve safety.
Hogan said he wants to turn in his group's final report by June 29. The DM&E is under no obligation to accept or negotiate any of the panel's recommendations. The railroad is working on plans to improve its track so it can run up to several dozen coal trains from Wyoming to Midwestern power plants every day. The committee's activities could include field trips to other cities that have coal trains running through them. "We're dealing with safety in Brookings," Hogan said. "We don't particularly care who the railroad is, whether it's DM&E, South Dakota state railroad, whether it's Union Pacific or Canadian Pacific. It doesn't matter who it is. All we're really concerned with is railroad safety." He said if anyone joined the committee because they have a grudge against DM&E, they should perhaps think twice about serving. "This is not any kind of a hunt against the DM&E," Hogan said. During the 2006 general election, Brookings voters rejected the city's agreement with the Sioux Falls-based railroad 56 percent to 44 percent. That agreement outlined what would be done on "safety and quality of life" issues such as fencing and street crossing barriers that could arise during the DM&E's proposed $6 billion expansion. It also said the city would support and promote the rail project.
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