Northstar Line: Will we make the switch?

After spending $317 million, backers of the state's first modern commuter-rail line are hoping it's the next step toward a more train-oriented Minnesota. But the Northstar Line, which makes its first official run at 5 a.m. Monday, faces some challenges in a land where the automobile still reigns.

For the thousands of people who flocked to take part in Saturday's free rides, actual Northstar usage will vary widely. Bob Westman of Andover has been riding the bus to work and will be taking Northstar daily. Erin Johnson of Ramsey currently drives every day and hopes to ride the train two or three days a week, especially in winter. Noel Flavion of Anoka doesn't work downtown and will use it purely for Twins games and the like.

Northstar's backers are optimistic that many commuters will find a way to make the switch. "People across the country are saying, 'We have railroad tracks, and the roads are clogged,'" said Tim Yantos, executive director of the Northstar Corridor Development Authority, noting that the trains will provide consistent travel times regardless of road or weather conditions.

"Rail isn't for everybody," he acknowledges. But even commuters who don't use it would benefit. The Minnesota Department of Transportation says Northstar users, by no longer being in their cars, could make a 2 or 3 percent dent in traffic along the busy northwest corridor where stretches of Interstate 94 and Hwy. 10 each see upward of 80,000 vehicles every day. The passenger capacity of the trains is equal to adding a lane and a half of freeway between Big Lake, the town at the far end of the 40-mile line, and Minneapolis, Yantos said.

An alternative route

With Northstar, the Twin Cities joins roughly 20 metro areas around the nation that have some form of commuter rail, from New York's massive, storied system to new lines in Albuquerque and Seattle.

Commuter rail is different from light rail, which has overhead electric wires and more closely spaced stops, and heavy rail, which includes big-city subways and Chicago's elevated trains. New-generation commuter trains like Northstar are diesel-powered, run on freight tracks, tend to cover greater distances and have amenities such as restrooms, tables and electrical outlets.

At 3,400 rides a day -- 1,700 roundtrips -- Northstar's projected ridership in the early going will be below capacity. It's expected to build over the long haul, as development resumes and gas prices climb. Northstar "isn't here for two years or 10 years," Yantos said. "It's here for the next 40 or 50."

Awaiting the boom

The arrival of commuter trains was expected to accelerate the boom in Sherburne County, one of the country's growth hot spots a few years ago. But the economy has since been battered to the point that there's now a real-estate office along Hwy. 10 with a "for sale" sign in front.

Big Lake officials aren't panicked that they don't have immediate interest in the 200-plus-acre development site next to their Northstar station. The broader economic woes "at least allow us to get some kind of plan and a grand vision in place," said Katie Larsen, Big Lake's senior planner.

Commuters alone won't be enough to sustain businesses -- very little will be happening at the station between 7:19 a.m., when the last morning train leaves, and 4:41 p.m., when the first afternoon train arrives. That's why Big Lake and other cities with stations are aiming for a mix of housing and businesses, to draw in people who won't be taking the train.

Going the other way

The first train into downtown each day immediately heads back to Big Lake to make a second run into the city, and the outbound train will be handling what are known as reverse commuters.

But "it's not a reverse commute if that's where you want to go," Felix Schmiesing, a Sherburne County board member, says with a chuckle. He's in charge of efforts to extend Northstar to the St. Cloud area, which was the initial plan.

"We're about as shovel-ready as you can get," he said, but the $150 million that's needed to run trains to two as-yet-unbuilt stations in Becker and St. Cloud has yet to be found.

Until then, a bus service called Northstar Link between Big Lake and a park-and-ride lot in St. Cloud is expected to provide 170 rides a day.

What's next

Rail's revival has been coming slowly to Minnesota -- it's been five years since the state's only other rail transit, the Hiawatha light-rail line, began service. But many other train routes are on the drawing board, according to Dave Christianson, project manager for the state rail plan at MnDOT.

St. Paul's Union Depot is slated to become the Twin Cities' Amtrak station in 2012. Two metro-area light-rail lines are in development -- the Central Corridor connecting the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul is scheduled to open in 2014, and a year later, the Southwest line is to begin service between Minneapolis and Eden Prairie.

The Northern Lights Express, if funded, could run between the Twin Cities and Duluth in the next four to eight years, carrying both full-distance riders and commuters.

Rochester, Mankato, and Eau Claire, Wis., are also being considered for passenger rail. "Every one of these lines would have a commuter-rail component," he said, and would be more likely to have all-day service, in contrast to Northstar's rush-hour-focused timetable.

A high-speed link to Chicago, part of a national push to upgrade rail service between major cities, is also a priority, and Christianson estimated that's six to 10 years out.

For now, though, there's Northstar -- and passengers like Kelly Munger of Big Lake, whose job is right near the Target Field station. She says riding the train would be cost-effective and free up nearly two hours a day for reading or working. But she often has to drop off her kids at their school in Plymouth, so she won't be able to take Northstar every day.

Still, she's excited to have not only a commuting option but also another way to get to Minneapolis on weekends.

"We'll come into town and do a lot more in the city, I think," she said. "Because to me, when I drive into town every day of the week, about the last thing I want to do on a Saturday is drive back to the city."

Jim Foti • 612-673-4491