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YANKTON, S.D. — The man who used to run the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad says he thinks a proposed $6 billion expansion to build track into Wyoming coal fields and haul coal east should still happen.
Last week, Kevin Schieffer of Sioux Falls left the company he helped create. The Canadian Pacific Railway is poised to take over the DM&E at the end of the month.
The new owners have not said whether the coal train expansion will be pursued.
Schieffer said he thinks it’s a necessary component of the railroad as it goes forward.
It was time to leave, said Schieffer, whose departure was abrupt.
“There is a time for all things, and that’s not something we all control individually. We take life as it comes,” he said in an interview. “And I leave behind an organization that is just very solid, and it will always have a special place in my heart. But I’ve also got, fortunately, a beautiful 7-month-old daughter at home, and a beautiful wife, and I’ll be able to spend a lot more time with my family.”
Schieffer said it was hard to say goodbye to the people he worked with.
“It is, obviously, very difficult, particularly with the association of the employees up and down that line. It has been one of the great experiences of my life, and I will never forget them or it. And it’s not the kind of thing you walk away from.”
As for the DM&E’s potential, Schieffer said he thinks it’s almost unlimited.
“We have, as a matter of fact this year we will cross the revenue threshold for a Class 1 railroad. And I think that’s the only railroad in modern America to grow into a Class 1 railroad, and I’m very proud of that,” he said.
“The projected growth going forward is in the double digits, and we just have an extraordinarily solid railroad there, and it’s got some extraordinarily good people making it happen.”
On Sept. 30, the Canadian Pacific received U.S. Surface Transportation Board approval to acquire control of the DM&E and its subsidiaries. The CP expects to assume control of the DM&E Oct. 30.
