editorials

Ninety or so years ago, the Twin Cities were tucked happily into the golden age of train travel. St. Paul's stately new Union Depot, finished in 1923, was handling more than 200 trains a day. A similar number were running through the Great Northern and Milwaukee stations in Minneapolis. In addition, remnants of a commuter system were hanging on in each city, with lines still running to suburban stations in St. Paul Park, White Bear Lake, Stillwater and Lake Minnetonka. And a busy streetcar network interlaced both cities, with stops at each of the three big train stations.

No one anticipates another golden age. But it's a sign of the times that Minneapolis and St. Paul are busy reviving big downtown rail stations.

Hennepin County last week unveiled preliminary designs for a Transportation Interchange next to Target Field on the west end of downtown Minneapolis. Renderings show a large, arched glass structure hovering over the North Star commuter-rail platform just beyond the ballpark's left-field wall. The building would contain four tiers: ground-level platforms for commuter and intercity trains; a main level for street traffic, a large plaza and light-rail trains, and two skyway levels connecting to adjacent development projects.

Seven rail lines (beyond the existing Hiawatha and Northstar) would meet at the station: light-rail lines to St. Paul (Central), Eden Prairie (Southwest) and Maple Grove (Bottineau); commuter/regional lines to Duluth (Northern Lights Express), Hastings (Red Rock) and perhaps Willmar or Rochester, and high-speed service to Chicago.

With Target Field setting a high standard for architecture, neighbors are already urging planners to design the station and its surroundings in ways that open the district to quality development and avoid the bleak outcomes typified by elevated trains at Hiawatha-Lake.

St. Paul's Union Depot project is further along. Renovations began last January with an eye toward returning the neoclassical gem in Lowertown to its former glory. The front of the pillared "head house" on Fourth Street will form a veranda for the Central light-rail line stop. A new entry one level below, on Kellogg Boulevard, will handle cars and taxis, shooting passengers up to a wondrously restored waiting room and concourse, with its decorative arched ceiling and skylights.

By 2012, Union Depot should be ready for Amtrak, with Central light-rail trains following in 2014. Eventually the station could handle commuter trains to Hastings and extended train or commuter bus service to Woodbury and toward Hinckley along the Rush Line corridor, and down Robert Street toward Dakota County. The depot is also a likely home base for high-speed trains to Chicago. Lowertown's historic atmosphere should be a catalyst for station-area development when the market returns.

"It's amazing that we're putting this back together," said Tim Mayasich, director of the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority, who sees the downtown stations less as rivals than as complements to one another. It will take decades for trains to reclaim even a modest role in travel and in reshaping our cities. But the worthy process has begun.