Northstar Line |
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| Type | Commuter rail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| System | Metro Transit (Metropolitan Council) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Operational[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | Minnesota (Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Anoka County and Sherburne County) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Termini | Target Field Big Lake |
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| Stations | 6 stations in operation, 5 proposed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Daily ridership | 2,600 (Q2 2011)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Train number(s) | 1900–1913 (weekday), 1930–1935 (Saturday), 1940–1945 (Sunday) |
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| Operation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | November 16, 2009[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | BNSF Railway (infrastructure) Metropolitan Council (rolling stock) |
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| Operator(s) | BNSF Railway (locomotives) Metropolitan Council (train staff) |
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| Rolling stock | Motive Power MP36PH-3C (engines), Bombardier BiLevel Coach |
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| Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 40 miles (64 km) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (Standard gauge) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating speed | 83 mph (134 km/h) governed maximum[4] 79 mph (127 km/h) legal limit 47 mph (76 km/h) average |
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| Route number | 888 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Northstar Line (reporting mark MNRX) is a commuter rail route in the U.S. state of Minnesota, which began service on November 16, 2009.[1][3] The rail line serves part of the Northstar Corridor between Minneapolis and St. Cloud, and has been in planning since the Northstar Corridor Development Authority (NCDA) formed in 1997.[5] The corridor is served by Interstate 94 and U.S. Highway 10.
Northstar runs 40 miles (64 km) from Big Lake to downtown Minneapolis at Target Field using existing track and right-of-way owned by the BNSF Railway. Feasibility studies explored extending service an additional 42 miles (68 km) northwest, to connect Becker, St. Cloud, and Rice.[6] Extension plans are on indefinite hold due to insufficient ridership.
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The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) and the Northstar Corridor Development Authority (NCDA) studied options for development of the corridor to handle the increasing commuter load, and felt that a commuter rail line was the best option. It was expected to cost about US$265 million in 2008 dollars, estimated to be less than one-third the cost of upgrading existing highways,[7][8] though the cost would later climb to $317 million.[9] Because most of the rail that is being used already exists, the costs mostly went into building new train stations, upgrading track, enhancing crossings, and updating signals. A significant portion of the cost was used in extending the Hiawatha Line to the Target Field station on the west side of Interstate 394 and 5th Street. This terminal station is integrated into the Minnesota Twins' new ballpark, Target Field, which opened in March 2010.
Bus feeder lines, including the Northstar Link from St. Cloud to Big Lake station (a temporary option until the line is extended),[10] bring residents who live along the corridor to the nearest train station. Once in downtown Minneapolis, commuters can walk upstairs to the Hiawatha Line light rail, take a bus into neighboring St. Paul and other areas, or go into one of the nearby buildings integrated into the Minneapolis skyway system. The line currently has six trains run in the morning and evening rush hour periods, and limited service on weekends and holidays. Metro Transit has a ridership goal of 3,400 rides daily in 2010, with daily ridership of 5,900 by 2030,[11] saving those commuters 900,000 hours over the course of a year when compared to taking a dedicated bus line.[7]
Ridership in the first 15 days averaged 2,207 per day (33,112 total), short of a goal of 2,460.[12] By the end of January 2010, goals were exceeded by 3%,[13] Ridership for 2010 was originally projected to be 897,000. With only a couple weeks left in 2010, officials have announced that 2010 ridership will be about 20% less than that, 715,000.[14] Because ridership varies significantly through the course of a year, Metro Transit's month-to-month goals are different than the yearly average goal.
The route was initially designed to run the full distance between Minneapolis and St. Cloud, but the plan was not well-received by Minnesota politicians . Also, projected ridership and costs for the planned Minneapolis – St. Cloud portion were not good enough to qualify for Federal funding. Governor Jesse Ventura was an early advocate of the Northstar commuter rail line, and convinced some people to come around to his point of view.[15] However, former Governor Tim Pawlenty did not initially support the idea, and said he would not support it when he campaigned for the governorship. He changed his mind after the Federal Transit Administration determined that a scaled-back version of the line would cost less to initially build and would have lower maintenance costs after going into operation compared to other options.
Many hoped that funds would be approved for the project during Minnesota's 2004 legislative session, but the representatives at the capitol were unable to find common ground on a number of issues, the issuing of bonds among them. The project appeared stalled and many requested the governor to call a special session of the legislature, but some counties in the area and the Metropolitan Council came up with matching funds to allow funding from the United States federal government to continue.
During the 2005 legislative session, a bonding bill very similar to the proposed 2004 bonding bill was passed, including $37.5 million of funding for the corridor. The issue was believed to have changed the composition of the Minnesota House as the election in 2004 saw at least two non-supporters in direct vicinity of the Corridor ousted by opposition candidates. The bill was signed on April 11, 2005, by Governor Tim Pawlenty at the site of the Riverdale station in Coon Rapids, Minnesota.[16] This funding along with a total of $55 million in local funding was matched with Federal funds and allowed the NCDA to enter Final Design. A nearly $1 billion budget bill passed by the legislature in May 2006 provided funding to complete the corridor to Big Lake.[17]
Construction began on the maintenance facility near Big Lake station and on the Hiawatha light rail extension in September 2007, before full funding for the line had been secured.[5] On December 11, 2007, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Thomas Barrett met with Governor Pawlenty in Anoka County and officially signed a Full Funding Grant Agreement of $156.8 million, nearly half of the funding for the $317 million, 40-mile (64 km) line from Minneapolis to Big Lake. The money enabled the release of an additional $97.5 million in state bonding money set aside for the project.[18][19]
The federal government paid $156.8 million, the state paid $98.6 million, and the Anoka County Regional Rail Authority pledged $34.8 million. The remaining partners were Sherburne County Regional Rail Authority ($8.2 million), Hennepin County Regional Rail Authority ($8 million), the Metropolitan Council ($5.9 million) and the Minnesota Twins ($2.6 million, for the station improvements under the new Target Field where the Minneapolis station was constructed).[18] $107.5 million of the $317 million total went to paying BNSF for a perpetual easement for track rights and facilities along the line, and to pay the BNSF employees that operate the trains. Another significant chunk of the cost went into the Hiawatha light rail extension. The operating budget for the first full year of service, 2010, is $16.8 million.[9]
At Target Field station, the parallel rail lines of the old Great Northern Railway (north side track now BNSF) and the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway (south side track now Union Pacific) travel eastbound past the Federal Reserve Bank, the site of the old Minneapolis Great Northern Depot, across the Mississippi River on the Minneapolis BNSF Rail Bridge, and then across Nicollet Island. At a wye, the route turns Northwest in the GN East side line, which then joins the parallel ex-Northern Pacific main line. The Great Northern and Northern Pacific lines are merged into BNSF, and this is now the BNSF Northern Transcon (transcontinental) line.
The route travels north through the Northtown Classification Yards, over Interstate 694 and makes its first stop at 61st Avenue in Fridley at the yard limit of Northtown, where it enters BNSF's Staples Subdivision. The double track line continues past the current Foley Boulevard park-and-ride bus station, which is planned as a future Northstar station, and turns northwest at Coon Creek Junction, where the old GN route to Duluth (now BNSF's Hinckley Subdivision) heads straight north. The current Coon Rapids station is behind the Riverdale shopping center by Round Lake Boulevard, and new stations were also built in Anoka, Elk River, and Big Lake.
GN and NP had local service from Minneapolis to all of the cities currently served by Northstar up through the early 20th century. One Fridley station was about a mile north of the current stop, at Mississippi Boulevard. There was a stop possibly shared by GN and NP at Coon Creek Junction.[20] There were at least three stations built in Anoka over the years, while there were two stations in Elk River and two in Big Lake, with both cities having one stop for each railroad.[21]
The double-track main line between Northtown Yard in Minneapolis and Coon Creek Junction in Coon Rapids is the busiest rail corridor in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. In July 2009, before the Northstar commuter line began operation, this segment hosted 63 trains per day.[22] The Minnesota Department of Transportation would like to run more passenger trains through the corridor, both for Northstar and other proposed passenger rail routes like the proposed Northern Lights Express to Duluth. A $113.4 million project to add a third main line and a new station at Foley Boulevard in Coon Rapids is planned. A $99 million grant request was filed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to cover most of the cost.[23] TIGER grants are expected to be awarded on February 17, 2010.[24]
The Foley station was among cuts to the Northstar plan in 2003 while federal funding was being sought prior to construction. Despite the fact the 3,200-stall parking facility already existed (sans boarding platforms), riders would not save enough time by switching from existing bus service to rail to make the stop fit within the guidelines enforced by Federal Transit Administration's cost-effectiveness index.[25] A station in Ramsey at Ramsey Town Center was also cut prior to construction. Plans are moving forward to build both, with planning for the Ramsey station now being the most advanced. Ramsey station construction has been fully funded, and construction should begin in 2012.
A major obstacle to extending Northstar to St. Cloud is the lack of double-tracked rail for nine miles (14 km) from Big Lake to Becker.[26] However, the Minnesota Department of Transportation sees great promise in extending Northstar, since it should carry 1 to 1.5 million riders yearly. In its 2010 State Rail Plan, the agency stated an expectation of farebox recovery ratios between 70% and 111% on the full line.[27] However, the same plan had estimated farebox recovery ratios of just 21% to 34% on the proposed Northern Lights Express, which had calculated ratios of over 100% in a 2007 business plan.[28]
On 8 November 2010, it was announced that the planned extension of the line to St. Cloud had been indefinitely delayed. Projected ridership is not sufficient to qualify for federal funding.[29]
| Manufacturer | Model | Inventory | Number | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motive Power, Inc. | MP36PH-3C | 6 | 12 (UTA Purchase), 501–505 | |
| Bombardier Transportation | Bombardier BiLevel Coach | 12 | 701–712 | |
| Bombardier Transportation | Bombardier BiLevel Cab Cars | 6 | 601–606 |
The line opened in 2009 with five MP36PH-3C locomotives and seventeen Bombardier BiLevel Coach cars, which each officially have about 140 seats and room for 355 when full with standees. The coaches have two doors on either side.[30] Upon the opening, Metro Transit immediately announced that a sixth locomotive was being acquired from the Utah Transit Authority's FrontRunner service to Salt Lake City, and a lease agreement was soon signed.[12] Typical weekday operation requires five trains, each consisting of one locomotive and three or four coaches. A single train is used for weekend service, making three round trips each day. The platforms are only designed for five-car trains, so longer trains would require additional construction.
However, Metro Transit did begin experimenting in April 2010 with six-car trains for taking riders to and from weekend Twins games at Target Field.[31] These trains overhang the platform at either end and only open one door on each of the end cars. In May, trains serving Twins games grew to eight cars, with some completely overhanging the platforms so some riders would have to board and then walk from one car to another.[32] By June, Metro Transit had decided to purchase the sixth locomotive being leased from UTA due to high leasing costs and the need to have an extra locomotive for when others are being repaired or inspected. $2.85 million for buying the locomotive and repainting it in Northstar livery will come from a $10.1 million contingency fund built into the original cost of the service.[33]
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