Transiting: Northstar's Post Mortem

On Sunday, January 4, the Metropolitan Council, Metro Transit and the Minnesota Department of Transportation ended its 16-year run of the only commuter rail service in the Twin Cities. The Northstar Commuter Rail service became a victim of a transportation system that is no longer sustainable to operate. 

It was a charming idea when the first trains ran in 2009. It was a way to demonstrate that commuters do have a choice and not fight the traffic on Interstate 94 from Saint Cloud into the Twin Cities. The idea was to connect the outer suburbs beyond Metro Transit’s Anoka County service area to as far as they can serve. 

The result was a 40-mile line that ran from underneath Target Field in Minneapolis to the Sherburne County community of Big Lake. It served Elk River, the county seat of Sherburne County, along with stops in Anoka County before going nonstop into Minneapolis.

At Target Field, commuters can go upstairs to connect to the two Metro Transit light rail lines that go deeper into the Twin Cities. You can get into downtown Minneapolis, and onward to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities main campuses, the Mall of America, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, U.S. Bank Stadium, Allianz Field, and downtown Saint Paul. 

At Big Lake, the Northstar Link commuter bus service connected with the train to Saint Cloud via other Sherburne County communities. That bus service was operated by Saint Cloud’s Metro Bus system and offered a motorcoach to run the rest of the way. 

The Northstar Line seemed to fill a need, while riding on a trend of adding new commuter rail services across the country. Yet, it just seemed that not a lot of people bought into the idea of taking a train

Why did it stop running?

The reasons revolve around financial results. It was simply too expensive to operate. Subsidies per rider were up to $100 per ride. That is a high rate one should pay for public transportation of any sort. 

The Northstar’s ridership peaked in 2018 with 780,000 passengers. That tanked during the COVID-19 Pandemic, when just 50,000 riders boarded the train. Afterwards, ridership increased only by more than double that figure. In 2025, just 113,400 riders took the train. 

Another contributing factor could be the owners of the rails the Northstar Line operated on. The corridor owned by BNSF is one of the busiest freight corridors in the USA. Amtrak operates the Empire Builder passenger service once daily in both directions on the line. They have to contend with freight trains that dominate the corridor, causing delays on those daily trains. Yet, BNSF allowed the Northstar Line to operate rush hour service with limited plans to expand beyond those schedules. They even allowed for trains to operate in coordination with Twins and Vikings games. 

The train service has since been replaced by commuter buses operated by Metro Transit. One service will run from the Ramsey station in Anoka County with rush hour service, along with hourly runs on the weekdays between Ramsey and downtown Minneapolis. Weekend service is available three times on Saturday and Sunday in each direction. 

Another service will run from Big Lake and Elk River with a schedule of three buses during rush hour in each direction on the weekdays. These buses will run nonstop between Elk River and downtown Minneapolis.

It would seem inevitable that they would convert from the expensive-to-run train to a commuter bus that runs express services to Minneapolis. It also is a foretelling f what needs to be done for public transportation and connecting to the outer commuter zones of each city. 

The Twin Cities has been implementing a service plan to restore service to routes that were lost during the pandemic. Not every line has been restore, but we should expect by 2028 to see those routes re-established to places such as Excelsior in western Hennepin County. In the meantime, there are new routes being established to connect to suburban job centers, such as Woodbury in Washington County. 

With the Northstar Line shut down, there may another chance for commuter rail in the Twin Cities. If the Dan Patch Corridor goes beyond the study phase, we could see a rail connection into the South Metro onward to Northfield. But, let’s be honest…don’t get your hopes up too high for that one.

What the Northstar Line’s closure tells us is that sometimes a great idea becomes no longer sustainable and viable when challenged with events that were out of their control. Especially when it is unable to recapture 84% of its peak ridership after the pandemic. This was a discerning statistic, compounded by the fact that Metro Transit has only recouped 45% of ridership from pre-pandemic levels throughout its bus and light rail network. 

I can only guess the reasons why. But, that’s another article entirely. 

You had a good run, Northstar. 

All photos by Randy Stern