A federal judge’s decision to let Orr limit train speeds to 30 miles per hour through the city has been overturned by the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, which had represented the city of Orr in the case, is reviewing whether to appeal the decision, but acknowledged an appeal would be a long shot.

“The U.S. Supreme Court is the only court left in the land to appeal to,” said Ben Wogsland, a spokesman for the office. The case would fall under the court’s discretionary appeals process, he explained, where only about one percent of the cases submitted are heard by the chief justices. “The math is not good on this.”

Members of Orr’s Safety Committee, which led the effort to slow trains, said they were discouraged by the court’s decision.

“It was a disappointment,” said Brian Bruns. “The judges never truly understood our situation and the unique local safety hazard that exists.”

Former Orr Mayor Dave Glowaski agreed and said that the convergence of safety issues in Orr was unique enough to merit state intervention.

“Federal regulation is one size fits all most of the time,” Glowaski said, noting that extremes in temperatures and the region’s swampy landscape can greatly affect the integrity of the tracks. “With a 35-year history of working in the woods, I know what the cold can do.”

Canadian National, however, hailed the ruling.

“We welcome the court decision and will abide with the ruling,” said Patrick Waldron, a spokesman for the company.

Court’s view

The Appeals Court ruling reverses a decision in June 2007 by U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. Davis, who upheld a 2005 state law granting Orr the authority to reduce train speeds within city limits. The Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway, a subsidiary of Canadian National, had sought a summary judgment to have the law declared unconstitutional.

In his ruling, Davis said that a combination of factors created a unique safety hazard in Orr that justified the city’s right to set a speed limit.

“Although many towns have propane tanks and buildings close to railroad tracks, and thousands of miles of track run through cold climates, the Court finds that the convergence of these factors in one place coupled with the swampy soil and Pelican Lake in Orr make this a unique situation,” Davis wrote.

But the three appellate judges unanimously disagreed, saying that combinations of similar conditions could exist in other communities and did not warrant an exception to the Federal Railway Safety Act.

“The Act and regulations are intended to avoid a patchwork of individual speed restrictions along a track,” wrote Justice Diane Murphy in the court’s decision. “The district court erred in concluding that the conditions in Orr amount to an essentially local safety hazard, for there is no evidence that these conditions amount to a hazard ‘which is not statewide in character and not capable of being adequately encompassed within national uniform standards,’ whether analyzed separately or in combination.”

Murphy also contrasted Orr’s situation with Shakopee’s — a case in which a court has held that a citywide speed limit was appropriate.

In Shakopee, the track runs between opposing lanes of traffic down the middle of a downtown street, Murphy noted. “Moreover, there was evidence in the Shakopee record that the segment of track to which the regulation applied was ‘the only place in Minnesota exhibiting this unique combination of factors.’”

Dispute’s origins

Orr’s dispute with the railway began in December 2003 when the Federal Railroad Administration okayed the railroad’s request to increase train speeds from 49 to 60 mph. The railroad spent more than $40 million in maintenance and upgrades on its corridor between Duluth and Ranier to handle the higher speeds.

Orr citizens started a petition to reduce train speeds, citing the tracks’ close proximity to the Orr School and the dangers posed by a derailment of cars that sometimes contain hazardous substances.

Area legislators entered the fray when they attached an amendment to the 2005 transportation bill that allowed the city to prohibit trains from exceeding 30 mph in city limits. Rep. David Dill, DFL-Crane Lake, authored the House version of the amendment while Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, penned the Senate version. Both cited safety concerns for their action and said the action took place only after negotiations to achieve a compromise with the railroad were unsuccessful.

“They listened to our concerns and acted on them,” Bruns said of Dill and Bakk.

In August of the same year, the Orr City Council agreed to impose the speed limit and the railroad later filed suit, claiming the law violated the Federal Railway Safety Act and interstate commerce regulations.

Railroad experts estimated extra fuel costs for slowing trains through Orr could reach almost $100,000 annually not to mention lost time in delivering goods. Asked it the railroad had seen any losses over the last year when forced to abide by the speed limit, Waldron declined comment.

Meanwhile, Bruns said he appreciated the assistance of Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and her staff. “They were fantastic in helping the small town of Orr,” he said, adding the city wouldn’t have had the resources to battle the case in court.

And Orr isn’t done fighting. If the state decides not to appeal, Bruns said Orr will seek change through other avenues such as federal legislation. He and Glowaski have already discussed the issue with U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., who chairs the House Transportation Committee and has been receptive to their overtures.

“There’s no way that we can sit back and continue to watch trains go through our community at 60 mph and maybe even faster in the future,” said Bruns. “We’re going to run this thing until the wheels are completely off.”