FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 14, 1997
CONTACT: Dana Hagerty 202/225-2165
WASHINGTON, DC -- Congressman Collin C. Peterson (DFL-7th District) announced today that $1.5 million in emergency funding has been approved by the United States Department of Transportation to repair and rebuild flood-damaged rail lines in the State of Minnesota. Projects in the 7th District will receive over $280,000 of this funding.
"I am pleased that the Minnesota Department of Transportation requested this emergency funding and that the U.S. Transportation Department acted so quickly in approving it," Peterson said. "The rail lines are vital to the 7th Congressional District, and just one of the many things that need to be repaired following the Flood of '97."
$173,713 in emergency assistance is to be used to repair flood-damaged track on the Northern Plains Railroad from Radium to Oslo, a distance of 25 miles. Emergency assistance in the amount of $106,858 is to be used to repair flood-damaged track on the Minnesota Northern Railroad between Ada and Crookston, Perley and Crookston, and St. Hilaire and Warroad.
Federal funding will cover 70 percent of the cost to repair the tracks, with the remaining 30 percent coming from the state.