# Northstar commuter rail *Commuter rail line between Big Lake and Minneapolis, Minnesota, ended in January 2026* **Northstar** (reporting mark MNRX) was a 40-mile commuter rail route in [[Minnesota]]. It linked [[Big Lake]] with Target Field in downtown [[Minneapolis]] over track and right-of-way belonging to BNSF Railway.[^1] Passenger trains first ran on November 16, 2009. The last trains ran on January 4, 2026, and buses took over the next day.[^1] The [[Star Tribune]] report cited in the project's dossier gives January 5, 2026 as the date of final service.[^2] The line's planners published targets that set its later output in relief. Metro Transit projected 897,000 riders for 2010, and the line carried 715,000.[^1] A 2009 Kimley-Horn and Associates study projected ridership of 5,590 for 2025. In 2019 the line averaged 2,660 weekday rides, and ridership never returned to its pre-pandemic level before closure.[^1] The corridor was estimated at about US$265 million in 2008 dollars and ended up costing $317 million.[^1] The [[Metropolitan Council (Minnesota)]] voted to end the service.[^2] Under Minnesota Statutes chapter 473, the Council's jurisdiction covers seven counties and excludes Wright County.[^3] Coverage of the phase-out reports that the Council lacks legal authority to run replacement buses in Wright and Sherburne counties because they lie outside that seven-county area. The project's dossier grades that reporting D and grades the statutory boundary A.[^3] ## Who The Northstar Corridor Development Authority was formed in 1997, and line planning began that year.[^1] The [[Minnesota Department of Transportation]] (MnDOT) issued the Draft Environmental Impact Statement in October 2000 and the Final Environmental Impact Statement in March 2002. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) then issued a Record of Decision in December 2002.[^1] [[Metro Transit]] set the line's service levels and ridership goals, cut service during the pandemic, and announced the line's termination in August 2025.[^1] In 2018, Metro Transit, MnDOT and the three counties the line served signed a master funding agreement covering operating expenses through 2022. Those counties were Anoka, Hennepin and Sherburne.[^1] The [[Counties Transit Improvement Board]] provided money that restored the deferred Fridley station before opening.[^1] Closure was proposed from the Legislature before the Council acted. In 2021, [[Jon Koznick]], the state representative for [[Lakeville]], proposed shutting the line.[^1] In the 2022 session, the Republican-controlled [[Minnesota Senate]] proposed closing it and asking the federal government to waive repayment of federal construction funds.[^1] The record in the pack does not give the Council's vote count or name the members who voted to end the service.[^2] ## What Northstar served part of the Northstar Corridor between Minneapolis and [[St. Cloud]]. The corridor is also served by [[Interstate 94]] and U.S. Highway 10.[^1] As first designed, the route ran 81.8 miles from Minneapolis to Rice, northwest of St. Cloud, with 11 stations.[^1] The project's partners then defined a Minimum Operable Segment of 40.1 miles ending at Big Lake. This dropped the Rice, St. Cloud and [[Becker]] stations.[^1] Later changes cut daily trains from 18 to 12 and deferred stations at Coon Rapids–Foley Boulevard and at 7th Street in Northeast Minneapolis. The remaining stations were assigned to a Phase II with no set date.[^1] ## When - 1997–2002: MnDOT ran public demonstration trains on the corridor. One 300-seat train ran from St. Cloud to Minneapolis on January 28, 2002.[^1] - December 2002: the FTA issued its Record of Decision.[^1] - 2003: the Foley Boulevard station was cut while federal funding was sought.[^1] - November 16, 2009: passenger service began.[^1] - March 27, 2012: construction of a Ramsey station began. It opened on November 14, 2012.[^1] - 2020: Metro Transit ended weekend and special-event service. Weekly trips fell from 72 to 20, and August 2020 ridership was 95% below pre-pandemic levels.[^1] - August 2025: Metro Transit announced the line would end in favor of bus service.[^1] - January 4–5, 2026: the final trains ran on January 4, and replacement buses began on January 5.[^1] The Star Tribune report dates final service to January 5.[^2] ## Where From Target Field, trains ran east across the [[Mississippi River]] on the Minneapolis BNSF Rail Bridge and over Nicollet Island. The route then turned northwest and passed through the Northtown classification yards.[^1] The first stop was at 61st Avenue in Fridley, where the line entered BNSF's Staples Subdivision. Further stations were at [[Coon Rapids]], Ramsey, [[Anoka]], [[Elk River]] and Big Lake.[^1] The Northstar Link bus fed riders from St. Cloud to Big Lake station.[^1] The line's three funding counties were Anoka, Hennepin and Sherburne.[^1] Wright County lies outside the Metropolitan Council's statutory seven-county jurisdiction.[^3] ## Why The full route to Rice did not attract enough projected riders to qualify for federal funding of half its construction cost. The partners shortened the line to produce a more favorable proposal.[^1] Foley Boulevard was dropped because riders would not save enough time over existing buses to meet the FTA's cost-effectiveness index.[^1] Wikipedia attributes the 2026 shutdown to declining ridership.[^1] The reported gap in replacement-bus authority follows from chapter 473's seven-county boundary.[^3] ## How In normal operation, six trains ran in each weekday rush period, with limited weekend and holiday service.[^1] The line opened with five MPI MP36PH-3C locomotives and seventeen Bombardier BiLevel coaches.[^1] A sixth locomotive was leased from the Utah Transit Authority and later bought. That purchase drew $2.85 million from a $10.1 million contingency fund.[^1] From opening until January 2014, trains ran on time on 96 percent of trips.[^1] After the shutdown, Trinity Railway Express in Dallas leased two Northstar locomotives and eight coaches ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.[^1] ## How much - Construction: estimated at about $265 million in 2008 dollars, and presented as less than a third of the cost of highway upgrades. Final cost was $317 million.[^1] - Federal funds: closing the line in 2021 would have required repaying $85 million in federal construction money.[^1] - Capacity project: a $113.4 million third main line and Foley Boulevard station were planned, with a $99 million grant request under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[^1] - County contributions: - Anoka County stopped paying its share in the second half of 2020 and owed Metro Transit $7.9 million for 2020–2022 operating expenses by 2022.[^1] - Its 2021 bill was cut from nearly $6 million to $1.95 million after BNSF and federal COVID relief funds were applied.[^1] - For 2022, the county treated $1.95 million as its "full and final payment for 2022"; Metro Transit had requested $4.6 million.[^1] ## How many - Opening: the first 15 days averaged 2,207 riders per day (33,112 total), against a goal of 2,460.[^1] Ridership fell short of a first-year goal of 3,400 weekday trips.[^1] - 2010: 715,000 riders against a projection of 897,000.[^1] - 2017 and early 2019: about 2,814 daily riders. In 2019 the line averaged 2,660 weekday and 705 weekend rides, with event service making up 31–37% of annual boardings.[^1] - Twins games: 81,561 rides to 64 Minnesota Twins games in 2019.[^1] - Pandemic years: 152,600 passengers in 2020 and 50,433 in 2021, during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].[^1] - Projections against which these counts stand: Metro Transit's goal of 5,900 by 2030, and the 2009 study's 5,590 for 2025 and 6,200 for 2030.[^1] ## In the at-issue record At-issue record AI-Humphrey-014 pairs two facts. The first is the Council's vote to end the line, which it dates to January 5, 2026, the day the Star Tribune gives for final service.[^2] The second is the Council's reported lack of authority to run replacement buses in Wright and Sherburne counties, which lie outside its service area.[^3] The record observes that the boundary that kept Wright County out of the Council's plans also "spared it the Met Council's obligations."[^3] It anchors the pair to a March 2025 White House presidential action whose federalism premise it treats as the same boundary question.[^4] The record sets the vote and the statute side by side. It does not establish the Council's reasoning.[^2][^3] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Northstar Line* (revision 1382190741, retrieved 2026-10-27), CC BY-SA 4.0 — the line's planning, route, operation, rolling stock, ridership, funding disputes and termination dates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northstar_Line [^2]: Star Tribune, *Met Council votes to end Northstar commuter rail in January* (date not given in the pack) — the Metropolitan Council's vote to end the service, with final service on January 5, 2026, as cited in the project's dossier. https://www.startribune.com/met-council-votes-end-northstar-rail/601456929 [^3]: Minnesota Revisor of Statutes, *Minnesota Statutes, chapter 473 — Metropolitan Council* (current text) — the Council's seven-county jurisdiction, from which Wright County is excluded; the statutory basis of the reported limit on replacement service. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/473 [^4]: The White House, *Presidential action* (March 2025) — the anchor document cited by at-issue record AI-Humphrey-014; it establishes no fact about Northstar. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/improving-education-outcomes-by-empowering-parents-states-and-communities/