A planned railroad improvement project from Chamberlain west to Presho will have to wait a few weeks longer.
Upgrading the 42 miles of state-owned line to Presho would cost about thirty million dollars and would provide access to a new forty million dollar grain terminal planned by Wheat Growers in Kennebec.
South Dakota Railroad Board Chairman Todd Yeaton says the bids came in high for the work and a second round of bids is being currently sought.
Yeaton says the bids were well over the estimates.
Yeaton says rebidding the project should not cause much of a delay.
The sources of money for the project are a twelve point seven million TIGER grant, a federal program, over seven million dollars from the Legislature a year ago, seven million from the railroad trust fund through grants and loans, one million of local support from the Rails to the Future consortium, one million from operator Dakota Southern Railroad and one million from a governor’s Future Fund grant.
