Travelogue: A New Train In Town

If you remember the commercial with the jingle, “something about a train that’s magic,” then you may have taken Amtrak over the past 50 years or so. 

The idea of Amtrak was to consolidate all passenger services across the USA into one “quasi-public” entity. The challenge was to do without owning most of the track their trains rode on. 

Amtrak yielded mixed results. On-time performance on long distance trains have been questioned. The lack of electrification outside of the Northeast Corridor was also a long-standing concern. There had been questions of service levels, security, and other issues that the rail service had been criticized for since its inception.

Perhaps the biggest concern was service availability. Over the years, some services were eliminated. That included key rail corridors and frequencies between cities. However, there is now some momentum coming from the White House and Congress that has enabled Amtrak to bring back some services or create new ones.

One of those new services has been one that has been missing for decades – an additional train between the Twin Cities and Chicago. It has long been a train corridor of study, since Amtrak realized that there are more passengers wanting to go between these two metropolitan areas than what is currently provided. The daily Empire Builder that runs all the way to Seattle and Portland is simply not enough for this corridor.

Starting on May 18, Amtrak will add a second daily train between Saint Paul’s Union Depot and Chicago’s Union Station. They’re calling it the Borealis. 

Currently, the Empire Builder departs Saint Paul around 8:00 AM with an arrival into Chicago after 4:00 PM. The same train leaves Chicago before 4:00 PM with an arrival back in Saint Paul after 10:00 PM. It looks like a perfect schedule, but some delays on the eastbound train have occurred due to weather from the west. Remember, this train originates from Seattle and Portland, with both branches meeting up in Spokane before crossing into the Rockies into Montana and North Dakota.  

The Borealis trains run on mostly a mid-day to early evening schedule. For example, the Borealis leaves Chicago at 11:05 AM – four hours before the Empire Builder leaves the same station. Trains leaving Saint Paul will depart around the same time – three hours after the Empire Builder is scheduled to leave the Twin Cities.

There are two things to point out about this schedule. As the Empire Builder is subject to delays west of Saint Paul, passengers can count on the Borealis to depart at its scheduled time. At least we hope that would be the case. 

Another thing to note is how much “quicker” the Borealis run is compared to the Empire Builder. Just by around 30 minutes quicker. Some may think it doesn’t really matter. It does, actually to some passengers.

The second daily train features an additional service the other train does not. Because it is a daytime train, there are no sleeper accommodations on the Borealis. Instead, there is Amtrak’s Business Class. You do get extra legroom compared to Coach, along with complimentary non-alcoholic beverages. In fact, it is the only train on the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor that offers such service. 

The Borealis is what the Chicago-Twin Cities needed in terms of additional passenger service. The daytime route is conducive for weekend getaways within the corridor. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that there’s more to this train than its added schedule may suggest. 

Let’s look north for a moment. Duluth has not been served by Amtrak since 1985. There had been talks of a return to Twin Cities-Duluth rail service for years – either by Amtrak or another rail agency. Given the timetable of the Borealis, it made us wonder whether there is some space to extend it to Duluth…

That would be a huge dream for the state. Yet, it also takes a huge construction project to replace the rails up to Amtrak’s standards, build or refurbish a new passenger station in Duluth, and add some in-fill stations along the route between Saint Paul and Duluth.

While we dream of additional – and improved – rail service across the USA, we will take this second daily train between the Twin Cities and Chicago. It is a step in the right direction. 

Now, to figure out if Boomer can ride with me – at the medium-size musical instrument baggage rate. After all, he is an Emotional Support Musical Instrument…

All photos by Randy Stern