Dec. 4, 2023

This paid piece is sponsored by Knife River South Dakota.

 Eric Berning has worked in the rail industry for decades and has never seen a construction season like this.

“This is the most Ellis & Eastern Railroad has ever done, with so much bridge construction and so much going on,” said Berning, a road master and 25-year employee with the railroad.

 The projects, helped by state and federal grants, are designed to address aging infrastructure while also positioning Ellis & Eastern Railroad for the future.

 “Ellis & Eastern has had a good year; traffic and business have been solid,” said Clark Meyer, president of Knife River South Dakota, which owns the railroad. “It just reflects the overall business activity in the area, and these improvements will allow us to provide outstanding service in the years ahead.”

In addition to hauling everything from scrap metal to building materials for customers, Ellis & Eastern plays a key role in operations for Knife River in Sioux Falls, transporting aggregate products internally.

Ellis & Eastern has had three major bridge projects this season.

Downtown Sioux Falls

The south side of the 10th Street viaduct includes two short rail bridge replacements, replacing old timber pile approaches with steel and pre-cast concrete tubes. The project started in July and was completed in September.

Here’s a look at the bridge before and after:

“Newer freight requirements call for heavier rail cars – 286,000 pounds – so combined with the ages of the structures, it was just time to make that investment in infrastructure,” Meyer said.

W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds

A 300-foot railroad bridge near the W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds needed the same improvements as the downtown project.

Located southeast of the Expo Building, “the approach spans were aging, and it was time for replacement,” Berning said. “We rebuilt them brand-new, and now they’re good for a long time.”

The project was completed over the summer.

Both bridge upgrades were paid for with a Special Transportation Circumstance federal grant through the South Dakota Department of Transportation.

“The wood has been maintained all these years, but it was time for a full replacement with steel and concrete,” Meyer said.

Between the two Sioux Falls bridges, “they can see two trains a day, up to eight trains,” Berning said. “Those are the bridges that carry a lot of cement powder and other material into Sioux Falls.”

Brandon

A final project just wrapped up construction in Brandon. The bridge, dating back into the late 1800s, is believed to be the oldest railyard bridge in South Dakota, Meyer said.

“We believe it’s the first one ever built,” he said. “It hasn’t been in service for loads for a few years. It’s just aging and hasn’t had a major investment for a long time.”

The project also is part of a larger long-term plan for the railroad.

 Ellis & Eastern Railroad was formed in the mid-1980s, following Sweetman Construction’s purchase of a portion of the Chicago & North Western Railroad.

In 2017, the line expanded with the purchase of the Minnesota Southern Railway, and the short line grew to 65 total miles, from Ellis, which is just west of Sioux Falls, to Worthington, Minnesota.

Now, the line west of Sioux Falls will be rehabilitated over the next couple of years, and the line east of Brandon to Valley Springs will be rebuilt over the next five years as part of a CRISI grant that Ellis & Eastern was awarded. That includes the bridge in Brandon.

“We’re about 25 percent there overall, and then that will be a continuous line,” Berning said. “That bridge is a steppingstone to getting the line back in service all the way to Worthington.”