Train from Minneapolis to Duluth: MnDOT optimistic about securing route funding

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – After years of debate, a long-awaited passenger prepare route operating from the Twin Cities to Duluth may lastly get state funding from the Minnesota legislature.

Funding for the proposed Northern Lights Specific route is into account in committee. The prepare route has been mentioned for years, however Republican opposition stored funding from going by means of. Now, with the DFL in command of each homes, MnDOT officers really feel optimistic the mission can transfer ahead. 

The Northern Lights Specific mission was estimated at a complete price of $425 million with most of it coming from the federal authorities. Minnesota lawmakers are taking a look at sending $99 million to maneuver the mission ahead.

If authorized, Amtrak plans to transform the prevailing railway observe from Goal Area Station in Minneapolis to the St. Louis County Depot in Duluth.

At present, Amtrak’s Empire Builder line runs from Chicago to Milwaukee, west north of Madison to La Crosse earlier than heading north alongside the river to the Twin Cities after which northwest to Fargo and Grand Forks.

Tuesday morning, FOX 9 spoke with Frank Loetterle from MnDOT, the mission supervisor for the Northern Lights Specific. When accomplished, he says the prepare journey would take about 2.5 hours and MnDOT hopes the route would see an estimated 1 million riders inside 10 to fifteen years after inception. Loetterle says the prepare’s prime pace could be 90 miles per hour with a median pace of 60 miles per hour, together with stops on the best way in Cambridge, Hinckley, and Superior.

Loetterle provides that, if the funding is green-lit, he hopes to have the prepare operating in three years. The plan has been into account since 2009.