Bonding division hears Northstar line extension request

Near the end of Thursday’s House Capital Investment Division meeting, Rep. Mary Murphy (DFL-Hermantown), the division chair, jokingly asked several St. Cloud residents in the audience if they’d come by car or by train.

And that was the point of the bill they were there to support.  

Sponsored by Rep. Dan Wolgamott (DFL-St. Cloud), HF4017 seeks $6 million to continue the work being done to extend the Northstar commuter rail service from Minneapolis to St. Cloud.

HF4017 was laid over for possible bonding bill inclusion. There is no Senate companion.

“We need the train, madam chair, that’s why we’re here.” Wolgamott said.

Northstar rail service currently runs from downtown Minneapolis but ends northwest of the Twin Cities in Big Lake. St. Cloud residents who commute to the metro area must then board busses to complete the final 25 miles of their journey.

Efforts have been underway for a number of years to extend Northstar rail service to St. Cloud. In 2019, the Legislature appropriated $650,000 for further work on the project, which included forming a group of stakeholders who have been studying various related issues, including how the service would operate and how much it would cost.

“We believe that [when that current work is done] we will have three service alternatives that can reliably provide service between Target Field Station and St. Cloud,” Frank Loetterle, project manager of the Department of Transportation’s passenger rail program, told the division. “These alternatives range from very minimal service to a very robust schedule.”

Loetterle said HF4017 would fund the final planning phases of the project, moving things from where they stand now “to final design and construction.”

The bill calls for $3 million in bonding and $3 million from the General Fund. Bond proceeds would be used for preliminary engineering and environmental work, while the General Fund money would go toward public outreach, to negotiate with the Northern Santa Fe Railway and for studies of the project.

Loetterle said the work would, among other things, include:

• developing and implementing a robust stakeholder and public input program;
• conducting ridership studies;
• doing a cost/benefit analysis of the service alternatives;
• conducting revenue studies to determine a fare structure;
• starting the environmental review process;
• finding additional locomotives and coaches; and  
• negotiating with the BNSF railroad about how much “they’re going to charge us to use their tracks.”

Loetterle said the $6 million should safely pay for all of that work.

“I believe that I’m overestimating the cost,” he said. “I’d rather give you a high estimate than a low one.”