NLX will be one of the most economically built mass transit projects in the United States, giving taxpayers a great return on their investment, increasing affordable housing supply and reducing freeway traffic.
Ridership on the Northstar during the pandemic has averaged between 100 and 300 weekday riders, making it one of the lowest performing commuter/regional rail routes in the country.
Back in the late 1990s, MnDOT analyzed several existing freight rail corridors in the Twin Cities region for the possibility of implementing commuter rail service. Three routes were chosen for their cost effectiveness and best potential ridership: the Northstar Line to St. Cloud, the Red Rock Corridor to Hastings, and the Dan Patch Corridor to […]
From a physical and operational standpoint the Northstar Line and Red Line are a night and day difference, but from an implementation and performance standpoint they are actually quite similar. The Red Line operates every 20 minutes (it used to be every 15 minutes) and had 267,000 rides in 2016 . While the Red Line hasn’t […]
In my most recent two posts I looked first at the opportunities I see for passenger rail in Minnesota, followed by an entry examining Norway’s passenger rail network to make some comparisons. There are similarities between the two such as the fact that Minnesota and Norway have about the same population and have been growing […]
OK, so Boston isn’t in Minnesota. But I found this chart on a fascinating discussion of “social stratification in transit” a while ago on the Itinerant Urbanist blog, and thought I’d share it. Heres’ the chart showing the per-passenger trip subsidies for the different subsets of Metro Boston transit system: Note: If you look at the ridership numbers […]
Via Alon Levy’s great walkability and planning website, Pedestrian Observations, here’s a chart showing transit operating costs using two different payment models: [Note: these data are from New York City commuter rail, e.g. the Long Island Railroad or LIRR and Metro-North, a NYC commuter rail line.] Levy has a lot of information on how scheduling and […]
Here’s the week’s posts from streets.mn read, digested, sorted and summarized for your reading convenience. This week news of the Southwest Light Rail cost increases seize writers’ attention as well as much attention to some biking and walking issues, along with the usual roundup of charts, maps and videos. Southwest Light Rail Headlines this week […]
Although freight trains move through Northfield daily, it’s been about 45 years since the last passenger trains stopped at the Northfield Depot. Now grassroots efforts to restore passenger rail from the Twin Cities to Northfield and points south are gathering steam. Even talking about taking the train to Northfield has been difficult. From 1910 until […]