Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared as an opinion column in the Duluth News-Tribune on January 21, 2025.
“A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation.”
— Gustavo Petro, mayor of Bogotá, Colombia
In a Duluth News Tribune letter to the editor, “NLX an endless money pit for taxpayers,” Terry Cartwright complained that taxpayer dollars spent to build and run the proposed Northern Lights Express (NLX) passenger train could be better used to build roads and bridges for cars. “Everybody in Minnesota would benefit” from putting the money into more car-centric infrastructure, it stated. However, NLX is the kind of long-term public transportation investment we need: it would return more benefits to everyone than the money we spend building it while reducing car dependence and providing climate benefits.
Waiting on a Train (Between Minneapolis and Duluth)
NLX is a planned higher-speed passenger rail service that would run 155 miles (249 km) between Minneapolis’ Target Field Station and the Union Depot in Duluth, Minnesota. NLX is also a proposed project for Amtrak Connects Us, which is Amtrak’s vision for expansion that will connect up to 160 communities throughout the United States by building new or improved rail corridors in over 25 states. Amtrak Connect Us is a plan to increase the number of trains on existing lines and with track improvements, while building new lines to communities that do not now have Amtrak service.
Track improvements will help the NLX achieve faster speeds while mitigating the need for new tracks on new land. For NLX trains to achieve a top speed of 90 miles per hour, the track will need to be improved to Federal Railroad Administration class 5 track, allowing 90 miles per hour for passenger train speeds and 80 miles per hour for freight trains. Thankfully, that track is straight, with gentle curves, meaning that no new land will be needed for rebuilding the track for higher speeds. The train service would provide an alternative to travel along the Interstate 35 corridor between Minneapolis and Duluth.
These track improvements will also benefit freight trains that take cargo from trucks to trains, while creating safer street and road crossing intersections. Our state will achieve those beneficial goals by installing four-quadrant gates at some road and rail crossings, while building road overpasses and underpasses at other intersections.
Expanding Vehicle Infrastructure Will Not Reduce Car Dependence
In December 2022, professional transportation planners at the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) published an updated Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan that includes a target to reduce the number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) across Minnesota per capita (individual person) by 14% by 2040. Put another way, MnDOT planners want to reduce VMT per capita to 9,195 by 2040.
VMT is the amount of travel for all vehicles in a geographic area over time. Annual VMT provides another perspective on travel patterns and how much people travel annually.
“VMT per capita is a key measure to understand travel behavior and impacts on the environment at a state level, and whether MnDOT strategic changes are impacting behavior year over year,” MnDOT writes at its Performance Measure Dashboard.
“High per capita VMT suggests people do not have effective transportation options to get to destinations,” MnDOT continues. “It also suggests that people drive farther to get to the places they need to go (e.g., work, grocery stores, amenities). Reducing VMT per capita is beneficial to Minnesota because, among other things, it represents increased use of multimodal options, decreased congestion on roadways, and decreased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transportation sector.”
The state of Minnesota cannot achieve lower VMT per capita by spending money building new highways or new lanes on existing highways. Consider Highway 65 between Minneapolis and Cambridge. This highway has four lanes, yet drivers often experience perk-period rush hour and stop-and-go traffic congestion. The Northern Lights Express Alliance estimates ridership between 700,000 and 750,000 in the first year alone, with an estimated annual ridership of 1 million, taking many people out of cars and putting them into the train, reducing VMT. Amtrak’s state-supported Borealis train service, operating between St. Paul and Chicago, for instance, saw a ridership of over 18,500 passengers in its first month. The trains average about 300 passengers each way daily, exceeding ridership projections.
Better Transit Options for Better Accessibility and More Environmental and Personal Benefits
We no longer live in President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s version of America. Transportation planners now realize that traffic congestion, along with the many problems that traffic congestion creates, cannot be solved by building more highway lane miles alone. Thus, those who are aware of the many benefits of public mass transit—and others who advocate for sustainable transportation options—are asking for long-term strategic investments in public transportation options that will benefit us in the near and far future.
Train travel is generally more environmentally friendly than motor vehicle travel. Transportation is the largest source of GHG emissions in the United States, surpassing the electric power sector. It accounts for about 29% of total U.S. GHG emissions. Road transportation contributes three quarters of these emissions, while aviation and maritime transportation account for 11% each. Overall, transportation emissions are a major contributor to dangerous and destructive climate change. According to the EPA, freight railroads contribute only 0.5% to total U.S. GHG emissions, while cars contribute 58.5%. The newer locomotives that NLX will use to pull their trains pollute significantly less than older locomotives.
MnDOT building alternatives to driving motor vehicles can reduce the need to drive while expanding public transportation and human-powered mobility. The Metropolitan Council has gone public with its finalized projections for the Twin Cities region, anticipating a swell of 650,000 residents and 324,000 households by the year 2050. A deeper look into their forecasts reveals a significant population gravity pulling towards the suburbs. MnDOT cannot build new highways fast enough to keep up with the coming traffic demand. Even in the 1960s, highway planners were only building one highway lane mile when they needed to build two highway lane miles to keep up with congestion.
Building more public transportation, such as NLX, results in less land being used for selling new and used motor vehicles, for on-street and off-street parking, for disposing of worn-out vehicle tires, and for vehicles waiting to be recycled into new manufactured goods. The Northern Lights Express Alliance writes that the NLX will lead to reduced emissions, emissions savings and CO2 reductions of $50 million, $150 million in increased property values, 3,000 good-paying jobs, and many other benefits. Train travel provides individual benefits to riders. Amtrak states that train travel gives riders shorter trip times, especially in bad weather and/or congested highways. Travelers can avoid expensive parking ramp fees and other vehicle expenditures. Expanded transit access may allow remote workers to live in more affordable areas while still having access to the Twin Cities.
Let Representatives Know That You Support NLX
“Traffic congestion is a growing problem — and one we cannot build our way out of. Statewide transportation links (like intercity rail and state-supported bus service) come at a fraction of the cost of our regular roadway projects while offering a long-term, future-proof solution for Minnesotans’ travel needs.”
– Jesse Cook
Federal matching grants that are expected to pay for roughly 80% of the NLX project will be spent on other Amtrak Connect Us projects if Minnesota citizens and state legislators reject construction of the NLX. This means that the federal tax money Minnesota taxpayers send to Washington will be improving the lives of other citizens in other states. Those other rail projects would be beneficial to the businesses, citizens, and natural environments of other states, but they will not benefit residents of Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin.
The federal matching grant money is in a dedicated fund for expanding Amtrak services. Some people believe that if NLX is cancelled, that money can be spent on additional highway lanes, rest stops, and better pavement maintenance along Interstate 35. That is a mistaken belief, as these federal matching grants can only be used to fund Amtrak projects and therefore cannot be used for highway funding.
You can advocate for NLX, which is dependent on a federal Notice of Funding Opportunity, a public document that announces a federal agency’s plan to award grants or cooperative agreements. NLX’s Notice of Funding Opportunity will be decided sometime in April 2025. Until NLX construction funding is approved, contact your elected representatives and tell them to support building NLX and other alternatives to driving. Include facts from Amtrak and the Environmental Protection Agency, which are easy to find and some are found in the linked web pages in this essay, in your support messages.
However, if misguided Minnesota state legislators pass a law to stop NLX funding this year, it may be years before another NLX funding opportunity appears. You can also contact Jake Granholm, Minnesota’s Office of Transportation System Management performance and risk supervisor, to voice your support for NLX.
If you live outside of Minnesota, contact your state department of transportation to see if they have a statewide program on reducing VMT per person in the next decades. Investing in alternatives to driving motor vehicles are worthwhile investments for your tax dollars. If there is no such program in your state, organize an advocacy group to create one.
For more information on public mass transit—and how it improves the lives of people, city and state economies, and the natural environment—see my past stories for Streets.mn in December 2022 and February 2023.