Progress is visible on Northstar commuter-rail line
Project is on time and budget for service in late 2009
With the arrival of its first brightly colored locomotive, the reality of Northstar commuter rail is finally coming into view.
Nearly 10 years in planning, the $317 million project is “on time and on budget,” project leaders say, and scheduled to open for service from Big Lake to Minneapolis in late 2009.
The first of five new locomotives for the Northstar commuter rail arrived in Big Lake, Sherburne County, on October 3. The rest will be delivered later this year. Service begins in late 2009.
New train and passenger facilities are well under construction along the 40-mile corridor, and are visible proof that moving people more quickly is no longer a distant dream for long-suffering drivers in the northwest corridor.
Northstar Project Director Mark Fuhrmann said the project’s primary partners – the Metropolitan Council, the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Northstar Corridor Development Authority – worked hard the past few years to move the project forward, and that collaboration is paying off. “The county rail authorities especially deserve a measure of public gratitude for advancing millions of dollars for construction last year – before full federal funding was approved – to enable service in late 2009,” Fuhrmann said.
Northstar is a vital component of the Council’s long-range transportation strategy to address congestion in the northwest metro area. In 2010, its first full year of operation, weekday ridership is estimated at about 4,100 trips.
At speeds of up to 79 mph, ride time from Big Lake to Minneapolis is estimated at 45 minutes.
As part of the federal funding agreement signed last December, commuter stations are now under construction at Big Lake (the north end of the line), Elk River, Anoka, Coon Rapids and Minneapolis (the south end). At Minneapolis, riders can connect to buses and to light-rail service along Hiawatha Avenue to the Mall of America.
New facilities under construction along the line
Most of the work will be complete by summer 2009. Here is a brief update on several of the project’s major components.
In downtown Minneapolis, Northstar will connect with Hiawatha light-rail at a new, two-story intermodal station at the new Twins ballpark. The station is under construction, and located about three blocks north of Hiawatha’s current terminus near First Ave. N.
Locomotives. The first of five new locomotives was towed to Big Lake by a Burlington-Northern/Santa Fe locomotive on October 3. Built in Boise, Idaho, by Motive Power Industries, the engine came to the Twin Cities through Chicago, where it was shown at a rail industry trade show. Four more locomotives will be delivered later this year.
Coaches and cab cars. Seventeen passenger coaches and cab cars will begin arriving in the metro area next May from Bombardier Corp. in Thunder Bay, Ontario, which also built the Council’s light-rail vehicles a few years ago.
Each coach will seat about 140 passengers. Cab cars, which, like a caboose, are placed opposite from the locomotive in the train sequence, are identical to passenger coaches, except that they seat slightly fewer riders. That’s because – similar to a light-rail train car – exclusive space is set aside for an operator to control the train from the last car in the sequence. (In this case, the train travels in both directions on the track, but the locomotive stays in one position and either pulls the coach cars or pushes them, depending on the direction the train is traveling.)
Each train set, or “consist” (pronounced CON-sist), will include a locomotive, three coaches and a cab car, with total average seating for about 550 riders.
Intermodal station in Minneapolis. In Minneapolis, a new intermodal station is taking shape adjacent to the Minnesota Twins’ new ballpark, where the Northstar commuter-rail line will intersect with the Hiawatha light-rail line. To reach the Northstar line, the Hiawatha line is now being extended about four blocks west of its existing terminus on First Avenue.
Passengers transferring between the two lines will make a connection through the intermodal station. The two-story station is necessary because the Hiawatha line comes in on the Fifth Street bridge, which is a story higher than the Northstar tracks.
Suburban boarding platforms. New platforms for boarding and de-boarding the train are under construction at Big Lake, Elk River, Anoka and Coon Rapids, and will be mostly completed this year. The platforms will include glass-enclosed shelters, ticket vending machines, abundant lighting and other amenities. All the suburban stations have free park-and-ride lots adjacent to their boarding areas.
At the Coon Rapids station, under construction, passengers will cross over the tracks through a two-story glass-enclosed walkway that connects a parking lot on the northbound side of the tracks with the boarding platform on the southbound side.
Three of the stations will have at-grade passenger crossings. In Coon Rapids, passengers will cross over the tracks through a two-story glass-enclosed walkway that connects a parking lot on the northbound side of the tracks with the boarding platform on the southbound side.
Vehicle maintenance facility. Northstar trains and coaches will be inspected, maintained and cleaned at a new 50,000-square-foot vehicle maintenance facility in Big Lake that is nearly complete. A massive 10-ton, ceiling-mounted crane is large enough to lift large engine components and wheel sets for service and repair.
Fridley station: Late addition targeted for concurrent opening
Construction of a suburban station at Fridley was initially deferred to save construction costs to meet the FTA cost effectiveness guidelines. But the Anoka County Regional Railroad Authority (ACRRA) now is pursuing alternative local funding, with hopes of opening the station concurrently with the rest of the line.
Located at Main Street and 60th Ave. N.E., the station site is now being prepared for a boarding platform and adjacent parking. The ACRRA has already funded construction of a pedestrian tunnel under the BNSF train tracks, and has acquired land for a park-and-ride lot adjacent to the station. Advance site prep will speed up actual construction when local funding becomes available.