Railroad upgrade project to increase train speed and operating efficiency nears completion

Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad (RCPE) is nearing completion of a multi-year, public-private project that has upgraded RCPE main line from Fort Pierre to Rapid City. As a result of the $84 million investment supported by a U.S. Department of Transportation grant as well as funding from both the State of South Dakota and RCPE, RCPE will be moving ahead with a long-planned speed increase of trains on this corridor.
Trains could operate at speeds from 25 mph to 40 mph.
“As a result of this tremendous investment in South Dakota, local West River businesses that rely on RCPE for transportation and logistics services will receive even safer and more efficient service from the railroad,” says Ryan Englebright, RCPE’s general manager.
RCPE urges the public, as always, to exercise extreme caution around railroad tracks and grade crossings, obey all crossing signs and signals, and expect that a train could move on RCPE main line at any time – day or night – from any direction.
Among improvements made during the upgrade project, 88 miles of rail have been replaced with continuously welded rail, while more than 80,000 new crossties have been installed.
RCPE, which runs more than 600 miles from Colony, Wyoming, to Tracy, Minnesota, with a branch from Rapid City to Crawford, Nebraska, was established in 2014 by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The railroad connects with BNSF and Canadian Pacific Kansas City to offer customers access to the entire North American freight-rail network and markets beyond.