With the changing Presidency the year ahead could prove challenging for passenger rail. The first Trump administration was quite hostile to Amtrak and wanted to severely cut funding. With the IIJA act passed in 2022, there was $66B included for Amtrak, $36B of which was for Federal and State partnerships to advance new Corridors, as we have reported on. Could the new Trump administration claw that money back? It's possible but there has always been strong bi-partisan support in Congress for Amtrak and it would take an act of Congress to do it. With such slim majorities in the House and Senate, the undoing of the IIJA seems fairly unlikely. Even many US Reps and Senators from red states know the value Amtrak brings to their constituents. Trump's new Secretary of Transportation, Congressman Duffy (WI-7th) hasn't made any comments about Amtrak, but we know for certain he is quite hostile to Amtrak through previous votes. Time will tell.

Trump on the other hand, has made positive statements about high speed rail: “And you know, it's sad, because I've seen some of the greatest trains, I find it fascinating, and I've seen the systems and how they work, and the bullet trains they call them… they go unbelievably fast, unbelievably comfortable with no problems, and we don't have anything like that in this country, not even close,” said President-elect Trump in an August 2024 interview with tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. “It doesn't make sense that we don't, doesn't make sense.”

What does it look like in Minnesota? Democrats hold a one seat majority in the Senate, and it appears the GOP now holds a one seat majority in the House. A judge just ruled that the Democrat who narrowly won district 54B, which would have provided an even split between Democrats and the GOP in the house, is now disqualified as he didn't meet the residency rule. Democrats have appealed the decision to the Minnesota Supreme Court. We are hopeful, however, that the immediate and ongoing success of the Borealis, not only from a ridership perspective, but financial performance perspective, will change the debate for expansion of passenger rail in Minnesota positively. We will keep you posted on developments this session and ask for your support through action alerts if needed. Stay tuned!

For All Aboard Minnesota's part, we will continue to advocate and educate for the extension of the Borealis from St. Paul to Fargo, through St. Cloud on the Empire Builder route, and new Twin Cities to Kansas City service. We will also work with our Wisconsin partners for new service to Madison and Green Bay, a second Borealis frequency, and a new Twin Cities to Chicago train through Madison, and EauClaire, WI.

We have just sourced from WisDOT, MnDOT, Amtrak, and the Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passenger a number of statistics and information about the Borealis performance this summer and Amtrak's fiscal year which ended on September 30, 2024. This information is all posted on the "New 2nd Train: Twin Cities to Chicago Borealis" page in this News and Media section. Bottom line, the Borealis is the best performing corridor service in the upper midwest based upon ridership and financial performance. The success continues! Check it all out.

As we have for many years now, All Aboard Minnesota attended the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commisions annual meeting, which was held at the St. Paul Union Depot in November 2024 Here are some of the highlights from that meeting about what is happening for passenger rail expansion in states around us:

In addition to Minnesota progressing on the Twin Cities to Duluth service (NLX) there is a great deal happening in the states around Minnesota to advance passenger rail. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Michigan seeks to expand service frequencies on all three of their current state corridor routes, extend service into Canada, establish service in the Detroit - Toledo - Cleveland corridor, add more new equipment, and increase speeds to 110 mph

2. Wisconsin which wants to extend service from Milwaukee to Green Bay, and Madison, along with a third Twin Cities to Chicago train routed through Eau Claire, and looking to add a second Borealis frequency

3. Oklahoma which seeks to connect the Heartland Flyer with the Southwest Chief in either Kansas City or Newton

4. Indiana which wants to increase speed between Indianapolis and Chicago, making the Cardinal long distance train daily, establish daily service between Indianapolis and Chicago, establish service from Indianapolis to Louisville, and is in Step 1 of the Corridor ID program to establish service in the Chicago -Ft. Wayne - Columbus - Pittsburgh corridor

5. Missouri wants to add additional frequencies to the Missouri River Runner and increase speeds to 110mph from Lincoln

6. Iowa is in step 1 of the Corridor ID program to establish service from Chicago to the Quad Cities. Plans are to establish two roundtrips daily

Many of these services are planned to be operational by 2027 if all goes well. Lots happening, lets hope many of these plans come to fruition. We will keep you posted.

Trains Article Analysis - WASHINGTON — The increases weren’t large compared to pre-pandemic 2019, but more Northeast Regional frequencies enabled Amtrak to capture enough travel demand to beat the company’s previous overall record ridership in fiscal 2024. Also, a 24% gain in ticket revenue from long-distance trains compared to 2019, in spite of constricted coach and sleeping car capacity, generated a 6% rise in total revenue.

These are among the takeaways from Amtrak’s fiscal year ending Sept. 30, as revealed in the 2024 monthly performance report released late last week. A table below provides a closer look at how price and patronage interact on some services.

The money generated on trains that travel more than 750 miles (even if passengers aboard might not) is up sharply from 2019. Diminished capacity led to fewer riders on trains like the Texas Eagle, which operated with more sleeping car capacity (it had a transition sleeper) and additional coaches. The situation has recently been partially rectified [see “Amtrak adds to Texas Eagle capacity …,” Trains News Wire, July 29, 2024]. Southwest Chief patronage suffered because, until recently, it was routinely assigned only two Superliner coaches when the train previously had three or four in peak season. On the other hand, the Capitol Limited’s expansion of coach and sleeping car capacity between 2023 and 2024 paid immediate dividends. Another success story is Auto Train, the only long-distance train that maintained daily frequencies throughout the pandemic. It capitalized on higher gas prices in 2023 but marginally lost clientele in 2024 when gas prices retreated.

Added frequencies create exponential ridership gains

Hands-on management and a reliable funding commitment at the state level have allowed Virginia, North Carolina, and Maine to actively promote their service and add round trips. Price reductions coupled with more Virginia-sponsored frequencies to Norfolk and Roanoke have resulted in sustained growth, while additional Piedmonts between Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., have made the service more relevant. Both Wisconsin’s Hiawathas and California’s Pacific Surfliner were among the operations hurt by a change in commuting patterns; landslide disruptions on the route to San Diego also injected cancellations. But the introduction of the Borealis as an extension to one of the Hiawatha round trips, providing an extra frequency on the previously once-daily Empire Builder route to the Twin Cities helped counteract that shortfall.

Capacity, frequency yields dividends

The complete document available on Amtrak’s website contains a variety of other “route level results.”

The table below, derived from that section, shows that a key factor in the Northeast Corridor’s strong performance is how the number of train starts grew from fiscal 2023 to 2024 (comparable data was not provided in the 2019 report). This was accomplished by introducing quick terminal turns with push-pull equipment for Northeast Regional trains and squeezing more departures out of an Acela fleet in which trainsets have been permanently sidelined. The small increases in the other categories were the result of Amtrak’s belated return to daily operation of some long-distance trains in the fall of 2022, and more Cascades, Piedmont, and Virginia round trips.

Also note the relationship between length of trips and frequencies. The Northeast Corridor’s 24,530 trains produced 2.5 billion passenger-miles while the long-distance network generated about 2.2 billion passenger miles with 13,047 fewer departures. Meanwhile, state-supported service delivered the fewest passenger-miles with almost 70% of the trains. While all these numbers may make eyes glaze over, they show the ways beyond ridership and revenue that Amtrak’s network can be valued.

Well, we did it!! Citizen advocacy paid off and we finally have our 2nd Twin Cities to Chicago train, the Borealis. Since All Aboard Minnesota’s inception, we have worked with you, our members and friends, to get this service started and to make your voices heard. The Minnesota Legislature fully funded the Borealis and the state share for the Twin Cities to Duluth service – Northern Lights Express (NLX). Several legislators credited the voices from AAMN and the Great River Rail Commission in turning the tide towards more rail passenger service.

Our work has continued in earnest this year, with investment in expanding our social media platforms to reach new audiences. Additionally, we’ve met with mayors, city councils, business organizations and other leaders on the St. Paul to Fargo/Moorhead corridor to extend the Borealis on a daytime schedule. We’ve met with more than 35 of these civic and business leaders, all of whom recognize and support the need for more rail passenger service in this corridor.

With the success of the Borealis, we believe the time is now for more expansion. At the time of this writing, there have been more than 120,000 riders since May (two thirds of them in the Milwaukee to St. Paul corridor alone) In addition to extending the Borealis to Fargo/Moorhead on a daytime schedule, we believe that service from the Twin Cities to Kansas City through southern Minnesota and Des Moines would greatly benefit our region. We project that 190,000 riders would patronize this route, offering connections to the Amtrak network serving Denver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

We are grateful for your past contributions, and we ask for your continued support. This work takes volunteer time and money. If you are inspired by the accomplishments to date, and what we can do together to further expand passenger rail in our region, please consider making an end-of-year contribution to propel our mission forward.

We wish you a happy and healthy holiday season, and best wishes in 2025.

Recently, Brian Nelson from All Aboard Minnesota was contacted by the StarTribune, the Minnesota News Network, and KVRR TV News in Fargo ND on the possibility of extending the Borealis Twin Cities to Chicago train to Fargo/Moorhead through St. Cloud, which is the same route as the Empire Builder. Extending the Borealis on a daytime schedule to Fargo/Moorhead is a service All Aboard Minnesota has been advocating and educating on for some time. Also, there is a lot of on line community support. We hope the success of the Borealis will enable its extension on this important corridor serving Minnesota and North Dakota. The stories are posted here:

StarTribune Borealis Story

Minnesota News Network Borealis Interview

KVRR TV Fargo ND

Now is your chance! MnDOT is in the process of updating the Minnesota State Rail Passenger Plan and is seeking input from the public. See their email and links for input below. All Aboard Minnesota is actively educating and advocating for extending the Borealis on a daytime schedule to Fargo/Moorhead on the current Empire Builder route through St. Cloud, and new service from the Twin Cities to Kansas City through southern Minnesota and Des Moines. These two routes alone would serve about 70% of the states population (50 mile radius of each route) and provide significant east-west and north-south connections for Minnesotans. Please support us in our advocacy for these routes with your input. Thank you for your time and participation!

MnDOT Email -

The MN State Rail Plan needs your input Thank you to everyone who has participated in the Minnesota State Rail Plan update process thus far. We still need your input! The Minnesota State Rail Plan addresses a variety of topics important to the future of rail including safety, economic development and possible expansion of passenger rail. With more than 4,000 miles of freight and passenger rail lines in the state, the MSRP provides an overall vision for future development of the rail system and identifies priority rail corridors. Take our passenger rail survey Our current survey focuses on passenger rail with a goal of understanding needs for improved connectivity, safety and sustainability. Your input is critical to ensuring that the Minnesota State Rail Plan reflects the needs and priorities of our communities. By taking this survey, you will have a direct hand in crafting a transportation system that serves the needs of Minnesotans and shapes the future of passenger rail in Minnesota. How to participate Visit the project webpage: talk.dot.state.mn.us/state-rail-plan Complete the survey: It will take approximately 10 minutes of your time Subscribe to State Rail Plan email updates to participate in future public meetings or events More information To learn more, visit the plan webpage at: talk.dot.state.mn.us/state-rail-plan.

We have just learned that the 2nd Train to Chicago will begin May 21, 2024! This is the first new passenger train service Minnesota has seen since the discontinuation of the North Star passenger train to Duluth in 1985! The new train is named "Borealis" and is available for booking on Amtrak's website.

This new daily dedicated passenger train will originate at St. Paul Union Depot and departs at 11:50am and will arrive in Chicago at 7:14pm. Westbound, the new train will depart Chicago at 11:05am, and arrive at St. Paul Union Depot at 6:29pm. It serves the same route as the Empire Builder.

This schedule compliments the existing Amtrak long distance Empire Builder train which departs St. Paul eastbound for Chicago at 8:50am and arrives in Chicago at 4:45pm. Westbound, the Empire Builder departs Chicago at 3:05pm and arrives in St. Paul, MN at 10:56pm. The Borealis schedule is approximately 30 minutes faster than the Empire Builder in both directions.

This is a huge deal for Minnesotans, and it's something All Aboard Minnesota has worked towards for the past ten years! Citizen advocacy has paid off in this instance, and we thank all of our members and friends who have spoken out to local and state officials to make this happen! We also sincerely thank our state legislators to provide funding for this service and begin building out multi-modal transportation choices for Minnesotans.

We need to make the Borealis a success, as it will lead to more service around the state and connecting us to the upper Midwest we strongly believe. Tell your neighbors, friends, family, and anyone else you can think of! This is an exciting event and development for our transportation future and increasing passenger rail travel options.

There will be an event at St. Paul Union Depot for the first run and we will keep you posted with details. Join us for the first departure at St. Paul Union Depot! Several of us plan to be there at approximately 10:30am to give the first run a great send off!

Additionally, All Aboard Minnesota is actively promoting the new service with notifications, Press Releases, Podcasts, Facebook posts, a new video, and more. Stay tuned and we will keep you posted on the success of this train.

Thank you again for all of your help and support. Most importantly, on your next trip to Wisconsin and/or Illinois, ride this new train if you possibly can!