5.3. SR 11-16-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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DRAFT IMPLEMENTATION/BUSINESS PLAN Working Paper of September 30, 1998 -- Page 10 Capital Cost Savings: Truncation of Routes Examination of each of the six radial routes for productivity of capital dollars shows that, on three of them, the outermost segment of rail is expensive in relation tb riders on that link, while overall route performance is much stronger. In these instances, truncation could shorten the'routes and reduce the capital requirements, for purposes of initial program development. They are shown in the table below (all-inclusive costs in 2003 dollars): Route/Destination Capital Savings Ridership Decrease Revised Cost A to Bethel (full length) B to Ramsey (without Elk River) H to Chaska (without Cologne, Young America) L to Lakeville (without Northfield) N to Hastings (full length) S to Forest Lake (full length) Total Truncated All-Route System .................... $ 224 Million $ 26 Million 97 Riders $172 Million $ 77 Million 99 Riders $175 Million $ 82 Million 64 Riders $ 265 Million ................... $158 Million ................... $185 Million $ 185 Million 260 Riders $1.179 Billion Removal of a relatively unproductive outermost segment has considerable cost effectiveness. This is because shortening a line eliminates major expenditures for constructing substantial trackage and related systems for many miles (42 miles combined here), as well as the more modest station site expenses. This truncation of three of the six radial routes would save 14 % of capital costs, but decrease ridership by only one-tenth of that, or 1.4 %, over the full length route system. There would also be an impact on operations, reducing annual expenses by 18.6 % (to $ 39.4 Million) and fare revenues by only 1.4 % (to $10.6 Million). Truncation would generate a farebox recovery ratio of 26. 9 %, an increase frorn the fidl system ratio of 22.3%.