Many of you have seen the ad campaign stating “Minnesota’s newest Star!” Our first commuter rail, Northstar, held a grand opening on November 14th and began regular operations on November 16th. This new line utilizes existing train tracks and runs from Big Lake (between Minneapolis & St. Cloud) to the new Target Field in downtown Minneapolis. The train has five inbound trips into Minneapolis in the morning and five outbound trips to Big Lake in the afternoon each weekday. They also run a single reverse trip going to Big Lake in the morning and one inbound trip to Minneapolis in the afternoon. In addition to the weekday trips they offer limited weekend service and special event trains. The special event trains will mainly be used in the summer for Twins games and other large crowd events. (Click to see full schedule)
The addition of commuter rail extends Minneapolis’s reach into train based transportation. Twin Cities residents most recently came to enjoy light rail transit with the opening of the Hiawatha line. That line runs from downtown Minneapolis to the Airport and ultimately to the Mall of America. This line was also extended as part of this project by a couple blocks so that it also now goes as far as Target Field.
Mass Transit and the Future
Transit is one of those topics that citizens have strong passions for on both sides. It helps to reduce the number of cars on the roads, provides transportation for individuals who rely on public transportation and creates fairly regular commute times between locations. Detractors point to the high costs, ongoing subsidies, low route flexibility and underutilization during most non-peak times. Depending on what side of this debate you are on will help contribute to your thoughts on this newest addition to the Twin Cities. It is still too early to tell if Northstar will also surpass the ridership projects like the Hiawatha line has since it’s opening.
Mass transit will continue to be a topic of discussion for many years to come. Current debate is easy to find with the Central Line Corridor between downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. This is mainly in the news right now due to the impact the University of Minnesota says the trains will have on the sensitive equipment housed in building near the proposed route. Below is a recap of current and proposed routes for the future.
- Light Rail
- Hiawatha Line – Minneapolis to Mall of America — Already Completed
- Central Corridor – Minneapolis to St. Paul along University Avenue
- Southwest Line – Minneapolis to Eden Prairie
- Bottineau Line — Minneapolis to Maple Grove/Brooklyn Park
- Commuter (Northstar) — Extension from Big Lake to St. Cloud. Initially envisioned but only got as far as Big Lake due to funding.
- High Speed — Federal discussions currently underway to do a high speed rail corridor from Chicago to the Twin Cities and ending in Duluth.
Virtual Ride
I had the opportunity to ride the new line for the grand opening voyage from Fridley into Target Field and back. It was a great ride and I got to see a part of Minneapolis from a different vantage point then normal. The following weekend I decided to take my parents on the full trip from Target Field to Big Lake and back. I recorded the ride out the train car window and have uploaded it to YouTube so if you would like to take a virtual trip please click below. It is broken up into a smaller segments but the entire ride takes 51 minutes to go 40 miles. I would encourage you to take a ride and experience both the train and a different side of the Twin Cities then you see most days.
I’ve been thinking of taking the trip. is there anything to do near the stops…restaurants, cafes or shopping…that don’t require a car and are a short walk from the various stations?
I hope to see the day when we have a high speed rail network connecting Mpls to Chicago and down to Indianapolis.