With just a month into the 2023 Minnesota Legislative session, there are several new exciting developments for Minnesota's passenger rail expansion:

1. The Governor recently announced his transportation budget, and in it is a recommendation of $15.1M in operating and other support for the 2nd Train Frequency between the Twin Cities and Chicago. This budget recommendation would cover the first four years of operating support, and is far greater than what was proposed last year. The state did receive a Federal Operating Grant to cover a large portion of the operating costs for the first three years, but the state would still need to cover some costs. This is an substantial development, and we are learning there is strong support in both the House and the Senate for the 2nd train.

2. New passenger rail legislation will be introduced shortly that would allow MnDOT to study new and expanded passenger rail corridors in Minnesota and connecting us to the upper Mid-West. These corridors include: extending the 2nd daily Twin Cities to Chicago train on a daytime schedule to St. Cloud and Fargo/Moorhead on the existing Amtrak Empire Builder route, new service between the Twin Cities and Kansas City, through Northfield, Albert Lea, and Des Moines, IA, a dedicated passenger main line between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and more. The bill will be authored in the House by Rep. Erin Koegel, and in the Senate by Senator Aric Putnam. If the bill is passed, MnDOT could complete these studies and will allow the state to apply for Federal Matching Grants to enable these new and expanded corridors, which is the same process used for the 2nd train.

3. The Northern Lights Express bill, new service from the Twin Cities to Duluth, MN, (SF 202 authored by Senator Jen McEwen), was heard in the Senate Transportation Committee recently. The bill provides state match of $99.9M, which would qualify for a $320M Federal Grant. This money would be for infrastructure costs of the Twin Cities to Duluth line, owned by the BNSF Railway, to enable passenger service at speeds of 90 mph. Many testified during the hearing, including Mayors along the line, including Mayor Paine from Superior, WI, the Milles Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Duluth Chamber of Commerce, several college students stating that more options were needed other than cars, and others, made the case. The bill was not voted on in the hearing but put forward for consideration in the Senate Transportation bill.

We will keep you posted on these exciting developments and others as they occur in this session. Stay Tuned!!

The Midwest Interstate Rail Passenger Commission (MIPRC) held its annual meeting in Indianapolis, IN Nov 16-18. MIPRC brings together state leaders from across the region on a bipartisan basis to advocate for passenger rail improvements. Formed by compact agreement in 2000, MIPRC's current members are Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota are also eligible to join. The main purposes of the compact are to promote, coordinate and support regional improvements to passenger rail service.

The meeting , through the Federal Railroad Administration and State DOT updates, demonstrates there are many plans in the upper Mid-west for expanded and new passenger rail services. Seven out of the eight (8) are planning new services including Minnesota! Brian Nelson from All Aboard Minnesota attended this meeting and has provided a summary report and observations of the meeting. The opinions expressed are Nelson's alone.

Overall, its an exciting time for passenger rail. Click here to read the report

Citing many Amtrak operational concerns, All Aboard Minnesota board members met with staff members of Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar, and Representatives Betty McCollum and Dean Phillips. In letters sent to each of these offices, we outlined many service and operational issues experienced by passengers this year such as rampant equipment failures, and reduced numbers of coach and sleeping cars from previous years. The Empire Builder, for example, has run with one fewer coach and sleeping car all year which has caused the train to be almost constantly sold out. There are many instances of passengers reservations being canceled, and sleeping car passengers being bumped to coach accommodations.

There are almost 100 Superliner cars, the equipment that runs on most long distance trains, that are awaiting repair and maintenance. We see no evidence of a program in place to get these cars back in service. Nor, do we see any active effort to replace these cars, many of which were put into service in the late 1970's and early 1980's.

We have asked our Minnesota Congressional delegation to hold Amtrak accountable amidst record levels of funding per the Infrastructure Bill (IIJA Act) to run the national network properly. Representative McCollum's office sent a letter on our behalf to Amtrak Board Chair Anthony Coscia. You can read the letters we sent along with Representative McCollum's letter per the links below.

Additionally, Bob Johnston reporter for Trains Magazine, just published an excellent article on these issues entitled "Amtrak's Capacity Crisis." Link below.

All Aboard Minnesota Letter to US Senators and Representatives

Representative Betty McCollum's Letter to Amtrak's Board Chair

Amtrak's Capacity Crisis - Bob Johnston - Trains Magazine Article

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) invite you to attend an in-person open house and presentation in La Crosse, Wis. or Winona, Minn. Design plans for the project's improvement sites in La Crosse, La Crescent and Winona will be presented at the meetings in addition to the project's latest schedule and details on the work required at railroad sites to provide a second, daily round-trip passenger rail service with minimal delays. Both meetings will present the same information. Before and after the presentation, exhibits and maps will be available. WisDOT and MnDOT staff and design engineers will be available to answer questions about the project.

As MnDOT works to update the state rail passenger plan, All Aboard Minnesota was invited to give our high level input on ranking the next state rail passenger corridors. The Federal Railroad Administration now requires that all state plans score and rank the proposed next rail corridors based upon criteria they have given to state Department of Transportaion Departments. We used that criteria, based upon what we have learned, assessed, and researched to provide our ranking and scoring input for MnDOT's consideration. We ranked six (6) corridors, based upon the route map published on the "Our Vision" page. The Twin Cities to Fargo route scored first, as an extension of the 2nd train frequency between the Twin Cities to Chicago, which may begin service as early as next year.

View our tab below which includes ranking for the six corridors and some context notes for the first two ranked routes. We welcome any comments or questions. Please contact us through this site. Thank you!

Click Here

Streets MN's Ian Buck interviews All Aboard Minnesota's Brian Nelson about the status and possible future direction of more passenger rail service for Minnesota.

Click Here

The City of Anoka has formally requested that Amtrak trains stop in their city. All Aboard Minnesota endorses this request. As two thirds of the Twin Cities metropolitan population lives in Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs, a stop in the northern portion of the metro would make it easier for these residents to access Amtrak trains than St. Paul Union Depot. The current Northstar Commuter rail platform and parking lot could be utilized without additional investment we believe. All Aboard Minnesota supplied a support letter for the City of Anoka to Amtrak, posted below:

Support Letter

We are writing on behalf of our members, associates, partners and supporters to ask that you support the City of Anoka’s request to make Anoka a stop for Amtrak.

All Aboard Minnesota is a non-profit citizen advocacy group that represents more than 2,500 members, friends and supporters throughout the state that actively seek more rail passenger service statewide as a needed transportation option and which will economically benefit the communities served and the state.

We believe it makes economic and mobility sense for Amtrak to make a stop in the City of Anoka:

5. Two thirds of the Twin Cities estimated population live in the City of Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs
   • A stop in Anoka is more geographically desirable for citizens of Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs than St. Paul Union Depot
   • All Aboard Minnesota has heard this issue many times from prospective and existing passengers, desiring a stop in the northwest part of the metro and the Minneapolis area that is more accessible than St. Paul Union Depot
   • A stop in Anoka could drive greater use of Amtrak trains because of this increased accessibility in a highly populated region of the state
6. The existing platform and parking lot built for Northstar could be utilized for this stop
   • The existing infrastructure already in place would make for an ideal stop in Anoka. We understand the current platform is 450 feet long and could accommodate five cars
   • Accessibility from surrounding roadways is very good and we believe this existing Northstar facility could absorb additional Amtrak patronage without any additional expansion or investment
   • Metro Transit could coordinate the Empire Builder #8 stop in Anoka with existing Northstar service
7. We are all believers that passenger rail drives economic benefits for the communities they serve. This additional stop would benefit businesses in Anoka and surrounding communities

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Best Regards,

Board of Directors

All Aboard Minnesota

The MN Senate passed an amendment recently that would ban all state funding for the new Twin Cities to Duluth service, the Northen Lights Express (NLX). The House and Governors office are supportive, however. The House Transportation Committee included a proposal in their Transportation bill that would provide $85M to gain a larger federal grant to complete construction on the line from the Twin Cities to Duluth. We sincerely hope the differences between the House and Senate Transportation bills can be worked out in committee and NLX funding will be in the final version of the Transportation bill.

All Aboard Minnesota, in coordination with NLX Alliance, the Rail Passengers Association, and Midwest High Speed Rail, all sent out action alerts to our members and friends, asking everyone to call their legislators to support NLX funding. The All Aboard Action alert is posted on our Facebook page, link here

The NLX Alliance also issued a press release on the Senate ban - click here - NLX Press Release

Recently, All Aboard Minnesota sent communication to Minnesota House and Senate Transportation Leaders to fund passenger rail expansion. As the session winds down and final decisions are being made, All Aboard Minnesota is doing everything we can to get funding for more passenger rail this session. The current session is scheduled to end May 23. You can do your part to contact your Minnesota House Representative and Senator, and the Governor's office. More contact information can be found in this site, in the "Get Involved - Your Voice" tab. The letter we sent is below:

Hello -

On behalf of All Aboard Minnesota's 2,500 members and friends throughout the state, we urge the House and Senate to include in the final Transportation Omnibus bill the $26M in funds as outlined in HF 3160 and SF 3682 to study expanded and new passenger rail service in Minnesota.

These bills provides funds for MnDOT to study (preliminary design, construction, environmental impact, and economic benefits in accordance with the state rail plan ) four key elements:

1. Extending the 2nd train frequency between the Twin Cities and Chicago to Fargo/Moorhead on a daytime schedule.
2. New passenger train service from the Twin Cities south to Northfield, Albert Lea, Des Moines, and Kansas City connecting Minnesotans directly with Amtrak service to the west coast.
3. A dedicated passenger main line that will be needed between the St. Paul and Minneapolis downtowns that will allow the 2nd train to reach Minneapolis, (current terminus St. Paul) also serve as a vital link for the Twin Cities to Duluth (NLX) service to serve St. Paul (proposed current terminus Minneapolis).
4. A maintenance facility to service new passenger rail trains.

Please note that in order to apply for Federal Matching Grants now available in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 appropriated by Congress, these studies will need to be completed. Competition is fierce for these funds. If Minnesota doesn't act quickly, another state will reap the rewards. If we don't act quickly, our taxpayers will effectively be subsidizing intercity passenger rail in another state. The completion of these studies will advance the Minnesota State Rail Plan significantly.

These new routes, based upon existing infrastructure, potential ridership, and population served offer the greatest assurance for success that will serve about 70% of the state’s population (excluding the Twin Cites metro area). Many Minnesotans, college students, families, elderly, and people with disabilities either cannot or don't want to drive or fly. New passenger service also offers the communities they serve and the state a three to one economic return (for every dollar invested, three are returned.)

Highways and airways can no longer serve the transportation needs of all Minnesotans. We urge you to fund this legislation.

Thank you for your consideration. If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact us.

Brian Nelson

All Aboard Minnesota

The All Aboard Minnesota spring 2022 meeting was a great success and we received many very positive comments. The great news from MnDOT of course was that the 2nd train might begin rolling early next year! The meeting was recorded and you can view by clicking on the link below. Thank you to all who attended and support more passenger rail in Minnesota and beyond. We will keep you posted as developments occur.

All Aboard Spring Meeting 2022