Train from Duluth to Minneapolis will change everything

Passenger rail line, with a stop in Cambridge, may be up and running by 2012

A decade ago it was obvious that a passenger rail line between the Twin Cities and Duluth would never work. There was nothing on the south end for it to connect to. There was little on the north end for people to want to travel that way for. Congestion on Interstate 35 was unheard of. No one had a lap top, and what were cell phones?

A lot has changed, noted Ken Buehler of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum.

Today, the Hiawatha Light Rail line runs between downtown Minneapolis and the airport. The Northstar Commuter Line will be operating this year between Big Lake and Minneapolis. Both will converge at the new Twin stadium. And riders can connect to the larger world by hopping aboard an Amtrak train bound for either the west or east coast.

People have spread out of the Twin Cities area and moved into the suburbs with some commuting as much as one and one-half hours a day. Others have built expansive vacation homes along the North Shore. Today there is a casino smack in the middle of the Twin Cities to Duluth journey that operates as though it were a city of one million people. And after paying $4 a gallon for gasoline last summer, folks are looking for ways to avoid pouring their entire paychecks into their gas tanks.

AN EXCITING INITIATIVE

Congressman James Oberstar (Minnesota District 8), chair of the House Transportation Committee, has been watching the conditions change. Under his leadership in the house, a national transportation policy is being developed, one that includes rail in addition to highways. Various rail projects across the nation have been prioritized. Number two on the list is the Minneapolis to Duluth line.

“That is an exciting initiative,” said Oberstar.

“We need to give consumers as many options and alternatives as possible,” he added. “If we can take just 10 percent of the trips that are currently being made by automobile, and convert them to some other mode of transportation, we will save the equivalent of all the oil that we import from Saudi Arabia each year – 550 million barrels.

“I will do all I can to support this visionary project.”

SERVICE TO START IN 2012
The Passenger Rail Alliance, a group with members from affected counties and cities, has completed the necessary feasibility study for the project. Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad done modeling to show how freight trains and passenger trains could operate concurrently. The alliance is now starting its negotiations with BNSF. An environmental impact statement will be completed in a year, and will then be followed by an engineering study.

Most of the necessary funding for the rail line is expected to come through the Federal Rail Administration, which provides up to 80 percent for projects. Oberstar’s Amtrak bill, which passed in October with overwhelming bipartisan support, authorized $14 billion in funding for the national passenger railroad over the next five years. The alliance continues to seek funding to pay for needed groundwork, as well as the actual construction.

The intent is to start service in 2012.

As with most projects, the price tag for the Northern Lights Express (NLX) line has increased and is now at between $45 to $55 million. The reason for most of the increase is that to begin with, passenger rail representatives believed they could use the existing Burlington Northern Sante Fe rail line. While NLX trains will travel part of the time on the tracks that already exist, in many places dual and even triple tracks will need to be added, possibly all the way from Minneapolis to Sandstone. Another major cost is installing quad gates at each crossing along the 150-mile line; these are the type of gates drivers can’t snake through. “This will be a very safe operation,” Buehler promised.

Stops on the passenger rail line will be limited to six locations: the Twin stadium in Minneapolis, Foley Boulevard in Coon Rapids, Cambridge, Hinckley, Superior and Duluth. A maintenance facility will be built in Sandstone. Eight trains a day will travel at 110 miles per hour and carry an estimated 1 million people. Within 18 months, planners predict the line will become profitable.

Each city with a stop is responsible for providing its own depot. In Cambridge, a task force is investigating where the best place for a depot is. Among the options are locating it at the mall, which sits along the tracks.

Passengers on the train will travel between Duluth and Minneapolis faster than if they were driving. The cost will be comparable, noted Buehler. According to the AARP, it costs 55¢ to operate a car, which totals $80 between Duluth and Minneapolis. The cost for a one-way train ticket will be about $36. For those traveling from Cambridge to Minneapolis it will cost about $9 one way. Those who travel more frequently, such as every day or once a week, will be able to buy tickets at a discount; this may save them up to half.

While trains will reach a peak of 110 miles per hour, they will not be going that fast through towns. Stops at depots will be quick, and the train will pass through a crossing in seconds causing little disruption to traffic, said Buehler. These trains are also much smaller and lighter than the freight trains Cambridge residents are used to.

Each NLX train set will have five to six cars. There will be a quiet car, where no cellular phones, computers or MP3 players are allowed. At the lunch car, riders can purchase snacks. In another car, there will be a bar for those looking to relax. In the business car, a mini-Kinkos will be set up so that telecommuters can print their work, have copies made during the trip and have reports collated and bound.

“This is going to revolutionize where people live and how they do work,” predicted Buehler. Instead of windshield time, travel time will be billable hours. Relays will be set up allowing passengers access to wireless internet (for a fee) and ensuring they never drop a cell call.

TRAIN TO SPUR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Supporters of the project note that rail projects are about more than transporting people from place to place.

“It’s more than transportation,” said Buehler. “It’s economic development.” The Hiawatha corridor has seen $2.5 billion in privately funded development. When a similar train was installed in Texas with a stop in the North Dallas area, a blighted area was completed turned around. “Now North Dallas is one of the trendiest metropolises – all because of a train stop nobody wanted,” noted Buehler. The Amtrak Downeaster, running between Boston and Portland, is Amtrak’s fastest growing route in the country right now.

“Wherever we have seen high speed rail initiatives, economic development has accompanied it,”Oberstar noted. “You will see businesses that previously did not want to locate outside the metro area choosing to do so because there will be easy access for their personnel to the metro area.”