Easter Sunday 1985 was the last day a passenger train ran between the Twin Cities and Duluth, and the route is not part of any current government high-speed rail plan. But the Minneapolis–Duluth/Superior Passenger Rail Alliance, which includes rail authorities in several Minnesota counties (including Hennepin), wants to get on board. In March, it gave the proposed line a name: the Northern Lights Express.
Proponents claim that the line will attract 1.3 million riders annually, and that the ride from St. Paul to the Duluth depot would be about two and a half hours, depending on the final route. Critics claim that the difference between car and train travel times wouldn’t be significant—the Northern Lights would be making stops in Hinckley and a few other towns. And once people are in Duluth, how will they get to the area’s many attractions—particularly with luggage and vacation gear in tow?
South of the Twin Cities, an organization comprising regional government entities and the Mayo Clinic announced in April its plans for a rail line called the Southern Rail Corridor. The primary driver is not passengers but freight: The group seeks to reroute the Dakota Minnesota and Eastern line, which runs through central Rochester past Mayo’s campus, to a new line running south of Rochester. Mayo in particular has long sought to move the DM&E away from its facilities, arguing that the railroad’s safety record and hazardous freight imperil Mayo’s patients. (The DM&E is now owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway.)
Though Rochester is also not part of any current passenger rail plan, the Southern Rail Corridor’s proponents claim that the 48-mile corridor could become part of a train connection between Chicago and the Twin Cities.
