Northstar Commuter Rail

[mulad]

USA Today ran an article on positive train control which used Northstar as an example. BNSF is working on adding PTC signaling to the line, and Northstar locomotives and cabs are planned to get corresponding hardware in 2014.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013 ... s/1809241/

[Aville_37]

I still have hope for the line. When I was back in town, I took the Hiawatha from the airport to downtown, then transferred to the Northstar that brought me up to Elk River. I was a bit discouraged, though, that for the return trip on the Northstar on a Thursday, the last train departed the Elk River station at 7:41 AM or so. Instead of every 20 minutes in the morning up to that time, they should have a train run every hour or 1/2 an hour, with the last train arriving into Mpls. by 8:30/8:45 as some people don't work until 9:00 AM.

Being lazy, but doesn't anyone know of the whether there are still plans to extend the line up to St. Cloud?

[ECtransplant]

We'll have a moon base before the line gets extended to St. Cloud

[UptownSport]

sad, but true

[Le Sueur]

We'll have a moon base before the line gets extended to St. Cloud

Just think what we could have done if Old Newt were president...

[mulad]

Apparently there will be a few legislators pushing for the extension as the new session starts, but I can't say if anything will come of it.

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20130107 ... ck_check=1

[Le Sueur]

As much as I want commuter rail lines to be successful in MN, I would prefer some of the DFLer's get reelected in the next election... Here's hoping they can walk the fine line of power and responsibility

[Suburban Outcast]

Apparently there will be a few legislators pushing for the extension as the new session starts, but I can't say if anything will come of it.

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20130107 ... ck_check=1

Not a surprise at all that the senate senator from Sartell prefers the expansion of I-94 over the Northstar expansion, my relatives who live north of there say it's full of people who are not too fond of public transit. Wouldn't adding a third lane to I-94 past Rogers just make people more inclined to live in the exurbs in Wright County, even with the increasing price of gas? They keep upgrading intersections currently with stoplights to grade-separated interchanges between Ramsey and Clearwater on Highway 10 anyway, and will keep doing so for years. Even though it is across the Mississippi from 94 and serves different exurbs in Sherburne County, it should help on travel times at least a little bit with the upgraded interchanges. I'd rather see I-494 in Bloomington get expanded if they really want to upgrade a corridor.

[Le Sueur]

I've never traveled the NW 94 corridor during rush hour except during cabin season... Is it ever near as congested as 494?

[Suburban Outcast]

It can get bad, but I would say 494 is worse. I usually drive to Saint Cloud during non-rush hour periods to avoid traffic, and usually when I get in a traffic jam it is usually due to construction. During my freshman year at MNSU, I spent anywhere between 15 mins, 30 mins, to even a few hours (due to a bad winter storm) on Fridays heading back to the cities on 494, but I always left during rush hours because of afternoon classes. That was before they built the new 494/169 interchange though, so maybe traffic flow is a little bit improved there now. The AADT for I-94 in Wright County is a probably 1/3rd of what is on 494 in Bloomington.

[mattaudio]

We can't afford much more expansion. If anything, we should focus on maintaining US-10 as an interregional corridor (that is a road, not a street) instead of watching it degrade. Therefore, plans should be made to close intersections instead of building interchanges. Grade separations should be prioritized for long-urbanized areas (towns) and avoided in greenfield development sites. If it is important for cities and counties to develop on the edges of urbanized areas, those local governments can foot the bill for a network of frontage streets that carry vehicles to those local uses. But this all starts with getting the political guts to stand up and close intersections. http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2013 ... pilot.html

[UptownSport]

Used to come back from Camp Ripley Sunday evenings.
It totally sucked- I'd assume traffic didn't get better
Brainerd Raceway, Northern Minnesota are huge draws summer -

As much as I don't like sprawl, those boaters and campers are lifeblood for outstaters

[FISHMANPET]

I have a coworker that lives way North, up by Albertville I think (we work at the UofM for reference). He was telling me that they ever built that choo choo all the way up to St Cloud he'd move to some place even more absurdly north (like, north of St Cloud) and drive the half hour to St Cloud and then take the train into Minneapolis. I don't even know about people sometimes...

His commute is about an hour right now as is, I don't know how he handles it all.

[Nick]

I have a coworker that lives way North, up by Albertville I think (we work at the UofM for reference). He was telling me that they ever built that choo choo all the way up to St Cloud he'd move to some place even more absurdly north (like, north of St Cloud) and drive the half hour to St Cloud and then take the train into Minneapolis. I don't even know about people sometimes...

His commute is about an hour right now as is, I don't know how he handles it all.

My dad wakes up at 4:30 in the morning to drive to a train station to take a commuter train 50 miles north to a subway station to his office in DC. People do crazy things for an extra bedroom in the pretend countryside.

[Suburban Outcast]

I have a coworker that lives way North, up by Albertville I think (we work at the UofM for reference). He was telling me that they ever built that choo choo all the way up to St Cloud he'd move to some place even more absurdly north (like, north of St Cloud) and drive the half hour to St Cloud and then take the train into Minneapolis. I don't even know about people sometimes...

His commute is about an hour right now as is, I don't know how he handles it all.

My uncle used to commute from Roseville to Saint Cloud, and after he got laid off and got another job, he commuted to Paynesville. Then it was Elk River, and now I think it's somewhere in the cities. So many hours just spent sitting in a car every single weekday. Being on a commuter train as long as it fit your work schedule might be more comfortable, but I'd rather just live near my work so I could sleep in later and just be able to either walk or use the bus/light rail.

[kirby96]

As long as we're a bit off topic on commute times, I'll add that I've always suspected this is an oft-ignored significant contributor to our nations' obesity problem. An hour commute vs. a 15 minute commute is an extra 16 days a year sitting on your butt (assuming you don't just go home and park on the couch).

[UptownSport]

Agree ^^^^

At least sitting on your butt you still get exercise going to the fridge-

[Suburban Outcast]

Maybe they could put a couple exercise bikes on the Northstar, to combat the risk of obesity from sitting down for a daily roundtrip 80 mile train ride from Big Lake to Minneapolis

[Matt]

Maybe they could put a couple exercise bikes on the Northstar, to combat the risk of obesity from sitting down for a daily roundtrip 80 mile train ride from Big Lake to Minneapolis

That would actually be pretty cool! Especially on Amtrak or other longer haul commuter lines.

[beykite]

Bill to extend this to St Cloud was introduced, as was one for the NLX