Railnews from Railfan & Railroad Magazine

A month after Union Pacific announced its plan to acquire Norfolk Southern, the man who controls UP’s main rival in the West says his railroad has no plans to pursue NS or CSX Transportation. 

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor and CEO of BNSF Railway’s owner Berkshire Hathaway, told CNBC on Monday that his company does not intend to go after CSX or make a competing bid for NS. It was the first time anyone close to BNSF had made public comments about its own plans after the July 29 announcement that UP was merging with NS. However, sources close to BNSF reported in recent weeks that executives had been telling employees they were focused on their own railroad and not on taking over another one. 

In late July, as rumors started to spread that UP was considering NS, a story surfaced that BNSF was planning to merge with CSX. But Buffett quickly denied those rumors. 

However, last week, those rumors resurfaced when BNSF and CSX announced a new partnership to launch coast-to-coast intermodal services. One of the services would connect Southern California with Charlotte, N.C., and Jacksonville, Fla.; another would link Phoenix with Atlanta; and a third would connect the Port of New York and New Jersey and Norfolk, Va., with Kansas City. 

In Monday’s interview, Buffett confirmed that he met directly with CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs earlier this month. Buffett said he did not want his railroad to merge with CSX but preferred the two railroads to collaborate more. The new intermodal services seem to be a result of that conversation. 

The news that BNSF has no plans to merge with CSX comes as Hinrichs faces increasing pressure from shareholders to make a deal. Last week, Ancora Holdings Group, a major CSX shareholder, announced that Hinrichs needed to make a merger move or be removed himself. Ancora said that if BNSF was not an option, then CSX should pursue CPKC. 

—Justin Franz 

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Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer will introduce a new limited service in 2026 called “Passage to the Peaks” that will link Jasper and Banff, Alberta, via Kamloops, B.C.

The service will operate in June and July of next year while the FIFA World Cup takes place in Vancouver, allowing passengers to seek a “quieter experience” away from the major sporting event. While Rocky Mountaineer offers this “new” service, its regular routes are expected to run as usual, including First Passage to the West (Vancouver to Banff), Journey Through the Clouds (Vancouver to Jasper), and Rainforest to Gold Rush (Vancouver to Jasper via the former BC Rail through Whistler). 

Visit Rocky Mountaineer’s website for more information. 

—Railfan & Railroad Staff

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The Great Plains Transportation Museum’s former Santa Fe FP45 locomotive is headed to Mid-America Car in Kansas City, Mo., for a cosmetic restoration. Over the past two years, the museum has been raising funds to repaint FP45 93. The campaign received support from actor Michael Gross, who starred in the 1980s show Family Ties.

Locomotive 93 was built by EMD in 1967 and used in passenger service until 1971. It was then used in freight service on the Santa Fe and later BNSF Railway until 1998, when it was retired and donated to the Wichita museum. 

“We’re thrilled to see 93 headed toward the cosmetic restoration it deserves,” said GPTM President Heather Gatton. “We are anxious to see 93 in the freshly applied red and silver Super Fleet scheme that was created when Mike Haverty became the railroad’s president in June 1989. Locomotive 93 was last painted by Santa Fe in January 1990, so the timing is right to refresh its appearance.”

—Railfan & Railroad Staff

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The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad is hosting Maryland Railfest from September 12 to 14, a three-day celebration of railroading in the region. The highlight will be the former Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-2, the largest operating compound Mallet in the United States. 

Festivities will begin on Friday, September 12, with a special “Sunset on the Mountain” excursion leaving from Cumberland. On Saturday, September 13, and Sunday, September 14, locomotive 1309 will lead the “Helmstetter Highball,” short trips between Cumberland and the famous Helmsetter’s Curve. On Saturday evening, locomotive 1309 will also lead the railroad’s only dinner train of the year. Afterwards, a night photo session will take place in Cumberland. 

Besides excursions, railroad-related vendors, along with food and craft vendors, will be set up at the Canal Place Amphitheater in Cumberland. 

“RailFest is our way of honoring the legacy of American railroading while offering something fresh for every visitor,” said Wes Heinz, Executive Director of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. “Whether you’re here for the trains, the food, or the music, there’s no better place to be this September.”

Visit the WMSR’s website for more information. 

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A hedge fund group and major CSX stockholder is pressuring the railroad to merge with another Class I — either BNSF Railway or CPKC — in response to Union Pacific’s proposed takeover of Norfolk Southern. If CSX does not merge, the hedge fund believes its board of directors should promptly fire “failed” CEO Joe Hinrichs. 

Ancora Holdings Group publicly released its letter to the CSX board of directors on August 6, after stating that the railroad had ignored the letter and never acknowledged its receipt. In the letter, Ancora’s officials criticized Hinrichs and claimed that he was only interested in “bolstering employee engagement, making use of the Company’s private planes and manicuring his social media footprint.” Ancora noted that since Hinrichs arrived in 2022, CSX has gone from “first to worst” with an operating ratio that has increased from 58 percent to 67 percent. 

“We are hard-pressed to find any real accomplishments tied to Mr. Hinrichs,” Ancora officials wrote. “His time at CSX is best encapsulated by this anecdote: on the very day Jim Vena and Mark George were announcing the largest merger in industry history, Mr. Hinrichs was out promoting his involvement with the Company’s internship program on his tidily managed LinkedIn profile.”

Ancora is no stranger to trying to force change at Class I railroads. Just last year, it initiated a proxy fight against former NS CEO Alan Shaw. That effort ultimately failed (Shaw later resigned after it was revealed he had an inappropriate relationship with an employee). 

The hedge fund group said it believed CSX should immediately hire a bank to explore two merger options: BNSF or CPKC. Ancora believed that BNSF, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, could make an all-cash offer. Since UP started eyeing NS, rumors have circulated that BNSF was doing the same to CSX. But Warren Buffett, owner of BNSF, has dismissed those rumors, and sources close to the railroad say that executives have been telling employees they are focused on their own operations, not a merger. However, industry observers have said BNSF might be forced to make a move on CSX to prevent being blocked out of transcontinental traffic patterns by a combined UP-NS. 

According to Berkshire Hathaway’s financial reports, the company held $347.68 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of March 2025, much of it from selling more than $100 billion of Apple stock during 2024. This gives Berkshire an advantage because it could potentially make a purchase of either CSX or NS without needing to involve investment bankers. For comparison, UP had approximately $1.41 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 2025 and is paying for its $85 billion NS deal mostly with stock equity, along with additional debt. 

The other merger option is CPKC, Ancora suggested, although it recognized that having a Canadian company buy an American one might be frowned upon by the federal government. To bypass that, Ancora proposed a “reverse” merger where CSX takes over CPKC but retains the leadership of CPKC CEO Keith Creel. 

Many in CSX are especially concerned that Jamie Boychuk is serving as an advisor to Ancora. Boychuk started his career at CSX as AVP of Transportation in April 2017 during E. Hunter Harrison’s leadership, and by October 2019, he had become the Executive Vice President of Operations. His management style and culture reportedly conflicted with many in the leadership ranks, leading to his unexpected departure from CSX in August 2023. Ancora tried to appoint him to the top operations role at Norfolk Southern but was unsuccessful. In the letter released on August 6, Ancora called him a “railroad operations superstar” (although they misspelled his name in the letter). 

Ancora concluded its letter by stating that they would take action if the board of directors did not. 

“We hope that you will take control of this situation and promptly disclose that CSX is working to identify the best merger partner,” the letter concluded. “If a deal cannot be struck, we assume it will not take us running a proxy contest to ensure a qualified operator, like Mr. Boychuck or someone with similar credentials, replaces Mr. Hinrichs.”

—Justin Franz and Scott Lindsey

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Regular Amtrak service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., began on August 18, nearly 20 years after passenger service east of the Big Easy was discontinued. 

An inaugural run for VIPs was made on Saturday, August 16, to preview the service, before the twice-daily runs started on Monday. The trains leave New Orleans and Mobile in the morning and evening. 

Amtrak last operated east of New Orleans in 2005, until Hurricane Katrina damaged the route between there and Mobile. Although freight service was eventually restored, passenger service never resumed. It took years of negotiations with Amtrak and the two host railroads, Norfolk Southern and CSX, to get the track back. 

—Railfan & Railroad Staff

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Coos Bay Rail Link, which operates a former Southern Pacific branch line in western Oregon, has been forced to close a vital swing span bridge near North Bend, Ore.

The closure leaves three customers without direct rail access, including one that accounts for 40 percent of the short line’s traffic. The North Bend Swing Span Bridge was built in 1914, and since the Port of Coos Bay bought the former SP line in 2009, it has invested over $25 million into the bridge ($15 million in the last five years). 

Recently, the bridge’s electrical power cable was damaged by a vessel, making both its swing mechanism and signal system inoperable. Port of Coos Bay officials said repairs will be costly, and they are currently collaborating with local, state, and federal officials to secure funding for the bridge repairs. Until then, rail traffic cannot cross it. Meanwhile, the railroad is working with the three customers south of the bridge to find ways to truck their products to the other side for loading onto rail cars. Although the Port recently received a $100 million grant for its proposed intermodal terminal, these funds cannot be used for bridge repairs. 

—Justin Franz 

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This month, Railfan & Railroad focuses its attention on rail transit. From commuter rail to subway trains, from the high iron to the city street, these are operations that push back against stereotypes and received wisdom about the nature of North American railways. These trains are relatively short, almost entirely urban and suburban, and they thrive not on cargo, but on passengers.

Make no mistake, on this continent, freight railroading still accounts for the majority of railway tonnage and revenues. According to the Association of American Railroads, in the U.S. alone, more than 1.5 billion tons of raw materials and finished goods move by rail every year. Drive to the nearest main line, and you are likely to see examples abound — hulking diesels pulling hundreds of cars filled with everything from raw lumber to crude oil, from finished automobiles to home appliances. But if you wait by that track, the odds are high you’ll never see a passenger train. Sure, some lines might host an Amtrak train once a day, maybe more in a few places, but standing by the average high iron, it would be forgivable to assume that passenger travel is no longer an important part of the North American railway story.

Yet in our major cities, passenger trains never went away, and if anything, have grown in the extent and intensity of their services. In this issue, we take a look at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Red Line rapid transit serving Boston, as well as New York’s enduring Long Island Rail Road. The former traces its roots to 1912, and has since expanded to serve Boston’s northern and southern near-suburbs, while the latter is approaching two centuries old, chartered in the 1830s and has since become a vital link between the vast bedroom communities on the island and New York City. There was, in short, never a time when it was possible for cities such as Boston or New York to function without significant passenger rail. What was true here was often true in other major cities — places like Philadelphia, Chicago, or San Francisco — all of which depend on some form of rail-based transportation to move people into, around, and through their urban fabric.

Moreover, for the last half-century, urban passenger rail has been on a general growth trend. Bay Area Rapid Transit’s first line opened in 1972, while the first branch of the new San Diego Trolley — actually a modern light rail system — opened in 1981. Numerous other new lines followed, from Seattle to Dallas, Buffalo to Albuquerque, Pittsburgh to Houston. There are now more new rail services than ever.

While most of these newer systems have been successful, many challenges remain. Urban systems are closely linked with the fabric and health of the cities they serve. Following the decline of the steel industry and shift in the economy, Pittsburgh’s commuter rail operations came to an end in 1985 (Pittsburgh & Lake Erie) and 1989 (PATrain). With their narrow focus on conventional, 9-to-5 service, many commuter lines saw dramatic ridership losses after the 2020 pandemic, when many employees shifted to working remotely and never looked back. The Twin Cities’ Northstar service is a potent example, but so too are systems around the country, from Chicago’s Metra to the New York City subway, which — though still heavily used — remain below pre-pandemic ridership levels. Then comes the issue of subsidies, which are tied to ridership and tax revenue, forcing many agencies into difficult conversations about their future.

Despite such challenges, it remains true that most North American cities depend to some degree on passenger rail. Be it a humble streetcar or a vast subway network, a low-density commuter train operating over a freight line, or a fast and frequent light rail system built on an exclusive right-of-way, it is undeniable that passenger railroading has never stopped being an important part of the North American railway landscape.

—Alexander Benjamin Craghead is a transportation historian, photographer, artist, and author.

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By Tim Doherty/photos by the author

Boston is an ever-changing city. You pass by a place you haven’t visited in a few months, and you discover that a new skyline has sprouted from the ground. In contrast, the transit system seems frozen in time. The steps in the Downtown Crossing station that once led to Filene’s Basement remain, but the consumer touchstone of New England value was replaced long ago by a modern skyscraper. Over the years, Boston’s transit system has struggled to keep up with these quick transformations.

As Boston aspires to be (and generally is) a world-class city, the concentration, intersection, and interdependence of educational institutions, technology, life sciences, and finance allow the region to punch much higher than its population suggests. The rapidly growing technology and life sciences hubs around Kendall Square and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge are matched by similar growth in the Boston Seaport district — which literally emerged from parking lots over the past 15 years. By location and proximity, the Red Line runs right through the center as it connects Harvard, MIT, and the technology hub of Kendall to Massachusetts General Hospital, downtown Boston, South Station, and the Seaport business district.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA, or “the T”) is the sixth-largest transit system in the U.S., serving 171 cities and towns across eastern Massachusetts and operating all modes of service including bus, rail, and ferry boats. As recently as 10 years ago, the Red Line carried just as many, or even more, people into Boston than Interstate 93, the main north-south highway through the city that includes the tunnel created by the infamous “Big Dig” project. Riding the Red Line at that time could be interesting at best; open seats were rare, complete crush loading was common, and cars became more intimate than commuters bargained for.

ABOVE: The new Neponset River Bridge was the first element of the South Shore extension to begin construction in 1966 after MBTA purchased the right-of-way from the bankrupt New Haven Railroad. A six-car train of Series 2 cars heads south across the river to Quincy and Braintree on June 11, 2025.

Even before the pandemic flatlined transit ridership worldwide, Boston’s Red Line was stumbling. An exceptionally snowy winter in 2015 (locally known as “Snowmageddon”) shut down the Red Line south of downtown, laying bare the critical condition of the transit system caused, in large part, by a long period of underinvestment. Further challenges, including conflicting investment priorities, staff shortages, inadequate training, and simply bad luck, caused prolonged delays. Missed trips, “temporary” shuttle buses, and outright unreliability made many of the system’s typical riders stay away. Average daily ridership on the Red Line dropped from its peak of 274,290 in September 2019 to 146,490 in May 2025 — while remaining the highest of the rapid transit lines.

History
Boston’s core rapid transit subway tunnels were constructed by the Boston Transit Commission between 1897 and 1912. The Transit Commission was the first public transportation agency in the U.S. created to address streetcar congestion in the city center. Once built, the rapid transit lines were leased to Boston Elevated Railway, which was the primary predecessor to today’s MBTA. As a private company, Boston Elevated Railway was limited through leases with the transit commission in the fares it could charge. The company’s 1918 bankruptcy caused the commonwealth to step in by establishing a public trustee that could set fares, ensuring that municipalities would cover any deficits, and guaranteeing interest payments to private bondholders. In 1947, the public sector finally bought out the bondholders and established the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). Ultimately, MTA was folded into the new MBTA when commuter rail services were added in 1964.

The Cambridge-Dorchester subway was the last of the rapid transit lines to be completed to the city of Boston. All four lines were constructed and opened decades before the color-coded rebranding by MBTA in the mid-1960s. Built to a higher standard than Boston’s first-in-the-nation “subway” that became the Green Line (see September 2023 R&R) and the “Elevated Main Line” that became the Orange Line (see September 2024 R&R), the new high-speed lines were designed for a dedicated fleet of cars that would move passengers quickly into Boston with wider clearances, lower grades, and gentler curves.

ABOVE: A Red Line train passes through the new Ashmont terminal on April 3, 2021. The rebuilt multi-modal hub hosting bus, trolley, and rapid transit opened in 2011.

The original Red Line begins in a tunnel, cut under the streets and then covered back over, in Cambridge between Kendall Square and Harvard Square. However, the subway construction was delayed as Cambridge and the Boston Transit Commission argued over the number of infill stops between the transfer-feeding station at Harvard and the city of Boston. Cambridge wanted three stops and suburban interests seeking a faster ride wanted none. The subway station at Central Square was the compromise.

As the Red Line connects Cambridge to Boston, it uses the center spans of the Longfellow Bridge to cross the Charles River, offering riders stunning views of Boston’s skyline from Beacon Hill to the Back Bay and in season, sailboats dotting the river. This bridge marks the only section of the Red Line open to the surface north of Columbia Junction in South Boston. The right-of-way for the subway was reserved during construction of the Longfellow Bridge, which was completed in 1906. When the bridge was effectively rebuilt in place 110 years later, the two subway tracks were swung back and forth on the vehicle travel lanes so the steelwork underneath could be replaced.

The subway passes through downtown Boston in a three-mile tunnel under Beacon Hill to the Park Street station, where the Red Line runs one level below the Green Line. Park Street serves as the central hub of MBTA, as arriving trains are inbound and departing trains are outbound. Connecting passages between the Red and Green lines allow transfers in four directions. The station at Downtown Crossing (formerly “Washington”) lies a block beyond Park Street in Boston’s traditional commercial district and has a connection to the Orange Line.

ABOVE: The Red Line’s Cabot Storage Yard and Maintenance Shop Complex in South Boston is built on a former yard purchased from the bankrupt New Haven Railroad in 1965. Located just beyond South Station, it was constructed for the South Shore extension in the late 1960s. The facility is currently the subject of a $200 million upgrade project.

When riders emerge from the Red Line at South Station, they have multiple transit options, including the MBTA Silver Line — a hybrid bus rapid transit line above the Red Line platforms that runs to Logan Airport, Chelsea, and South Boston. Farther above, up a set of stairs, is the historic headhouse for South Station, formerly used by New Haven and New York Central (Boston & Albany) trains. Beyond the big departure board are the 13 platforms shared by MBTA commuter rail and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor trains.

Just past South Station, the Red Line drops under the Fort Point Channel to Broadway and Andrew stations in South Boston. Located at the edge of South Boston, the Broadway station has long carried passengers from the densely populated streets of South Boston into downtown, and every year moves large crowds during the annual St. Patrick’s Day and Evacuation Day parade. Near the northern end of Dorchester Avenue, numerous bus lines feed transferring passengers into the Red Line at the Andrew station.

Extending the Red Line beyond Andrew saw many different proposals, including a long cut-and-cover line down Dorchester Avenue. Instead, the purchase of New Haven Railroad’s Shawmut Branch allowed the subway to expand south into Dorchester, terminating at Ashmont in 1926, which marked the first conversion of a railroad right-of-way to a rapid transit line in Boston.
Constructed on the eastern edge of the New Haven’s former Old Colony right-of-way, the New Haven stations at Columbia, Savin Hill, Fields Corner, and Ashmont were replaced by rapid transit stations. The new extension emerges from a subway portal between Andrew and Columbia and runs south along Dorchester Bay past Savin Hill before turning west and heading inward to Dorchester. The Fields Corner station was constructed with surface line loops first used by streetcars and later by buses as a major transfer station into the rapid transit system. In 2009, the 1926 station was completely replaced by a new station with parallel bus loops on either side of the tracks. MBTA rebuilt or replaced the four stations on the Ashmont Branch between 2004 (Savin Hill) and 2012 (Ashmont). The new stations make each stop fully accessible…

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by Otto M. Vondrak/photos as noted

The concept of commuting by rail can trace its roots back to the populous cities of the Northeast, when the first commercially successful railroads began to appear as early as the 1830s. Soon, the surrounding villages and towns grew into attractive suburbs where folks could live in the “country” yet have convenient access to work, shopping, and entertainment in the city. Railroads “commuted” or discounted their regular fares to encourage multiple trips, and the “commuter” was born.

Many metropolitan areas saw explosive postwar growth in the 1950s, giving rise to new suburbs, and with them, new patterns of travel. A number of cities across the country saw the continuation of their existing commuter services under the auspices of a public transit authority in the 1970s and 1980s, but for many urban areas the only way to get around was by driving your own car on congested highways. As public sentiment turned away from highway expansion, the federal government encouraged alternatives, which led some states to launch brand-new light rail and commuter rail lines where no such services had existed before.

Minneapolis and St. Paul make up the nation’s 16th-largest metropolitan area, with more than 3.7 million people living in the 15 counties surrounding the Twin Cities. Development began in the 1820s, and the region grew quickly, thanks to its location at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers. The heavy manufacturing the region depended on began to fade in the 1960s. However, the Twin Cities made a successful transition to high-technology, finance, and information industries through the 1980s and 1990s. The first streetcar lines appeared as early as 1865, and the two rival systems in Minneapolis and St. Paul were merged in 1890 as Twin City Rapid Transit. A stock takeover by a rogue investor in 1949 led to an accelerated plan to replace trolleys with buses, which was completed four years early in 1954.

ABOVE: MNRX 502 leads a double-header out of Target Field Station on May 4, 2019, in a canyon between buildings that have grown up along the right-of-way in downtown Minneapolis. —Otto M. Vondrak

The first Union Depot was built in St. Paul in 1881, and in its heyday, it hosted Great Northern; Northern Pacific; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Milwaukee Road; Soo Line; Chicago & Northwestern; Chicago Great Western; Minneapolis & St. Louis; and Rock Island trains. Despite the density and frequency of service offered, none of the railroads provided anything that would meet the definition of a true commuter service connecting the cities and suburbs. When Amtrak took over the nation’s long-distance service in 1971, it consolidated service to the former GN depot in Minneapolis, and later to the new “Midway” station in 1978.

To help coordinate improvements and funding to mass transit, the state legislature formed the Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) in 1967. Chief among its concerns was the deteriorated level of bus service operated by Twin City Lines, which led to a public buyout in 1970. Around this same time, the new transit agency began exploring the possibility of returning rail transit to the region. A 1972 study recommended a 37- or 57-mile regional heavy rail system, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that potential light rail corridors would be identified for funding studies.

By 1997, MTC had been rebranded as MetroTransit, and political support for possible light rail projects was peaking. Gov. Jesse Ventura and Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg both pushed for the construction of light rail, and federal funding helped propel the Hiawatha Line (today’s Blue Line) into reality. Construction on the 12-mile line began in 2001, and it partially opened for service in 2004. While this was a promising start, Ventura’s successor, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, campaigned against any future light rail expansion. When the light rail option for the Central Corridor (today’s Green Line) connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul was approved in 2006, Gov. Pawlenty initially vetoed state funding for the project (although a revised bill passed in 2008). Construction began in 2010, and it opened to the public in 2014. In 2024, the Metro Transit light rail lines carried nearly 15.5 million riders, slightly less than the 16 million reported 10 years ago.

ABOVE: An outbound Northstar train to Big Lake passes a BNSF freight at Northtown Yard on May 4, 2019. Under the current agreement with BNSF, service is limited to five round-trips on weekdays and three on weekends. —Otto M. Vondrak photo

A Rail Revival
The genesis for today’s MetroTransit Northstar commuter rail dates to 1997, when the Minnesota Department of Transportation was investigating possible corridors for commuter rail. One potential route was the Red Rock Corridor, to connect Minneapolis with Hastings, operating on Canadian Pacific (former Milwaukee Road) track. A second route was the Dan Patch Corridor, running over a former interurban line (later operated by Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern) between Minneapolis and Northfield, a distance of 40 miles. The third route was the Northstar Line, operating over BNSF tracks from Minneapolis to St. Cloud, a distance of 81.8 miles. In the original plans, Northstar would be completed first as it had the highest potential for success, followed by Red Rock, and finally Dan Patch.

Plans for the Red Rock Corridor shifted from rail to bus rapid transit in 2014, which was implemented in 2016. In 2002, state legislators passed a law which banned further study of the Dan Patch Corridor, though a revised rail plan in 2010 proposed commuter rail to Mankato, operating over the winding Dan Patch Line (a former interurban) to Savage, and then switching to Union Pacific rails on a new connection. The gag order has since been rescinded, and MnDOT continues to list the Dan Patch Corridor as a “Tier 1” project to be completed by 2030.

In addition, a plan for a new higher-speed passenger service linking Minneapolis and Duluth began to gain traction in 2000. The “Northern Lights Express” was the subject of extensive feasibility studies in 2006 and 2007, and currently remains one of MnDOT’s priority projects.

ABOVE: Extra service provided for home games at Target Field helped bolster ridership. Twins fans make their way toward the stadium after disembarking from a Baseball Extra on April 12, 2010. The Twins beat the Red Sox in their season home opener. —Nick Benson photo

The Northstar Corridor Development Authority (NCDA) was formed in 1997. The route was initially designed to run between Minneapolis and Rice, Minn., just outside of St. Cloud, serving 11 stations along the way. MnDOT submitted its first draft environmental impact statement in 2000, followed by a final statement in 2002. The Federal Transportation Administration responded with its decision at the end of 2002, allowing the Northstar Line project to move forward, but without the much-needed federal funding contribution due to lower-than-expected ridership estimates. Those federal funds would have paid up to half of the initial construction costs.

In an attempt to keep the project alive, the proposal was amended to define the “Minimum Operable Segment,” which cut the plan in half to about 40 miles, terminating at Big Lake. Three stations in Rice, St. Cloud, and Becker were eliminated, and infill stations at Coon Rapids–Foley Boulevard and 7th Street in Minneapolis were “deferred.” Frequency was cut from 18 trains a day to 12. The reduced segment was identified as “Phase I,” while expansion to St. Cloud and the construction of five additional stations was referred to as “Phase II,” though without a firm schedule for completion…

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