Dakota,
Minnesota and Eastern Railroad - (en)
Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (DM&E) (AAR reporting marks DME)
is a Class II railroad operating across South Dakota and southern
Minnesota in the northern plains of the United States. Portions of the
railroad also extend into Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa. DM&E and Iowa,
Chicago and Eastern Railroad (IC&E) are both jointly managed by Cedar
American Rail Holdings, making the combined system the largest Class II
network in the US. Although Cedar American Rail Holdings manages both
railroads, in reality it is a subsidiary of Dakota Minnesota & Eastern
Railroad Corporation, but Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad is a
subsidiary of Cedar American Rail Holdings.
DM&E began operations on September 5, 1986 over tracks that were spun
off from Chicago and North Western Railway in South Dakota and Minnesota.
Much of the negotiations were handled by the office of Senator Larry
Pressler and his legal counsel Kevin V. Schieffer. After a successful
decade of growth for DM&E, Schieffer succeeded J. C. McIntyre as
president of the railroad on November 7, 1996.
In 1997 DM&E announced plans to build into Wyoming's Powder River
Basin to become the third railroad (after Burlington Northern and Santa Fe
Railway and Union Pacific Railroad) to tap into the region's rich coal
deposits. The Surface Transportation Board (STB) released the final
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on November 19, 2001; with the final
EIS in place and approval from the STB, as of 2004 DM&E is pursuing
financing to undertake the expansion as proposed. The construction is
planned to be completed in 2007 and the addition of the revenues gained
from hauling coal along the new line has the potential of elevating the
combined DM&E/IC&E system from AAR's Class II to Class I.
DM&E purchased the assets of I&M Rail Link railroad in 2002,
renaming it Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad and combining its
management and dispatching duties with those of DM&E under the holding
company Cedar American Rail Holdings. Schieffer serves as president and
CEO of Cedar as well as serving as president of DM&E. The combined
system directly connects Chicago through Iowa to Kansas City,
Minneapolis-St. Paul and continues as far west as Rapid City, South
Dakota. Smaller branches extend into portions of Wisconsin, Wyoming and
Nebraska.
