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Abstract
The Oakes to Moffit branch line (the Wishek Line) has been analyzed using North Dakota's rail-line Benefit-cost model which has been employed in previous studies. The methodology has been reviewed and accepted by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). It was updated in 1992 so that the analysis period, discount rate, and treatment of project costs were consistent with the new FRA benefit-cost procedures. The benefit-cost methodology is described in Appendix C. Only the major assumptions, costing techniques, and results are included in this section.
The analysis was performed by the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) using data provided by the Dakota, Missouri Valley and Western Railroad and transportation statistics maintained by UGPTI. Using a discount rate of four percent, the overall benefit cost ratio for the project is 19.70. The project outlay will be recovered from discounted benefits by the year 1998. Thus, the pay-back period is approximately five years.
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