Quarter 1, 2025 Newsletter

The year is off to an uncertain start, both in the Minnesota Legislature and in the federal government. Sweeping changes at all federal agencies, including the Department of Transportation could impact programs and funding for intercity passenger rail administered by the Federal Railroad Administration.

A recent special election in Roseville put a previously negotiated power sharing agreement in effect in the Minnesota House. AAMN hopes the Senate Transportation Committee will have a hearing this week on a bill to study two new passenger rail corridors. We will keep you up to date on AAMN initiatives and challenges and how you can help meet them.

WATCH FOR ACTION ALERTS!

In this issue:

• 2024 WRAPUP

• MINNESOTA LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

• CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

• FEDERAL ACTIONS AND POLICY

• BOREALIS PERFORMANCE

• MnDOT FARGO STUDY

• DES MOINES - KANSAS CITY ROUTE FRA SUBMISSION

• TRAIN DAYS

2024 WRAPUP

The year ended on a high note with the continued success of the Borealis, which is important to the success of future passenger rail initiatives. Our organization benefited greatly from the enthusiasm and attendance at our annual meeting and by the high number of members who signed up to volunteer. Thank you to all who contributed to our year-end fund drive which helps support our activities in 2025. It is shaping up to be a challenging year, but we have momentum. Together we will ensure that the voices of members and friends are heard in support of passenger rail.

Thanks to all of you for a successful 2024 and thank you for your continued support in 2025.

Record Attendance at 2024 Annual Meeting

AAMN Legislative Priorities

By Barb Thoman, AAMN Board member - Legislative Chair

It has been a strange legislative session. House committees started official business on February 10th – nearly four weeks later than Senate committees. Republicans assumed leadership of committees in the House which changed to shared leadership with the Democrats win in a special election in Roseville’s district 40B on March 11th.

So far, intercity passenger rail has barely been discussed in the House or Senate transportation committees. AAMN’s legislative priorities for the biennium include:

• Extension of the daily Borealis train from Saint Paul to Fargo and
• Initiation of new service from the Twin Cities to Kansas City.

The KC service could serve Northfield, Faribault, Owatonna, and Albert Lea, Des Moines and other cities in Iowa, and connect with Amtrak routes to the west.

AAMN’s objective is for legislative direction to MnDOT to study both of these routes to an extent that a Corridor Identification Grant Application could be submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration in 2026. AAMN is working with legislators on this effort, and it’s our understanding that a bill to this effect will be introduced shortly

In the House, Representative Patti Anderson (District 33A Northeast suburbs) introduced a bill which AAMN opposes, regarding the Northern Lights Express. That bill seeks to claw back monies previously allocated for planning and construction and transfer to the highway fund. The bill passed in the The House Transportation Finance Committee on March 13, and sent to the Ways and Means Committee. The Senate companion bill SF 250 is in the Senate Transportation Committee.:

• HF1167 (Anderson PE) Northern Lights Express passenger rail project expenditures prohibited.
• SF 250 (Rarick and others) companion bill in the Senate

Please communicate with your legislators, legislative leadership and the Governor about the value of these proposed new services and passenger rail in general.

Find contact information for your elected officialsHere

Volunteer with All Aboard MN

As you know, AAMN is an all-volunteer organization. We are looking for AAMN supporters to volunteer their time and talents to advance the mission of All Aboard MN. Some long-time volunteers need to cut back a little and we could use your help on several committees. For example:

• Do you have skills to help our team write for, or maintain, our web site, Facebook page, or social media accounts?
• Could you do some writing for our quarterly newsletter?
• Could you serve on a team doing outreach to Borealis riders or communities along the two proposed new routes?
• If you are an accountant or bookkeeper, our treasurer could use an understudy.

If you are interested in any of these positions, please contact board member Mark Quam at [email protected] Please put 'Volunteer AAMN' in the subject line. Thank you!

Federal Railway Administration (FRA) Update

By Mark Quam, Board Secretary

Passenger rail projects in Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Midwest and the U.S that received Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Corridor ID grant funding, will face challenges going forward in 2025. On February 26th, 2025, it was announced by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget that FRA along with other federal agencies were being targeted for personnel cuts. It was noted that several rail projects around the country that had previously received federal grant funding and had started construction or pre-construction activities, were experiencing delays due to administrative or bureaucratic issues. Proposed additional cuts to FRA personnel will further delay work on those passenger and freight rail projects for the 2025 construction season and possibly longer.

The U.S. DOT is considering cuts that would return FRA staffing to pre-2021 levels. If this happens, lack of adequate staffing will drastically impact several critical programs which include the Federal-State Partnership Program, Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement Program (CRISI), Corridor Identification Program (CID), Restoration and Enhancement Program (R &E), and the Railroad Crossing Elimination Program.

On February 28th, 2025, the Rail Passengers Association (RPA) along with 22 passenger rail advocacy organizations from around the U.S., signed onto a letter that was sent to U.S. DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, addressing concerns regarding potential personnel cuts to FRA and the need to preserve essential personnel employees to administer passenger and freight rail program projects that were already pre-approved and designated to be implemented. AAMN signed on to this letter.

Borealis Sets Ridership Records

by Jerry Ratliff - Outreach Chair

Borealis ridership continued strong through December, January, and February but numbers were marred by weather related cancellations. Nevertheless, demand remains high. Already the Borealis from Chicago to Saint Paul is sold out for Easter Sunday.

The original 2015 Amtrak feasibility study estimated annual ridership on what would become the Borealis to be approximately 155,500. That estimate went up and down while the operational concept evolved. Now we see that the ridership estimate was low. Even though there were 15 cancelations in January, 13,411 riders brought ridership to date to 163,008, surpassing the design estimate in only eight months! These terrific numbers prove that there is demand for more passenger trains in this and other corridors.

Borealis Ridership Through December 2024

Study of Northstar and possible extension to St Cloud and Fargo

Last month, MnDOT released a 37-page study entitled Twin Cities-St. Cloud-Fargo/Moorhead Corridor Study. The paper was primarily focused on commuter rail and the future of the Northstar trains. The study was required by a law passed during the 2023 legislative session. The study briefly touched on one of AAMN’s priorities which is an extension of the Borealis between the Twin Cities and Fargo – but concludes that extending the Borealis is not a viable alternative (Page A-15). We disagree. AAMN has these concerns with information in the study.

• The study proposes using new locomotives and train cars (Page A-15). AAMN proposes starting this service with the same Borealis train which currently parks overnight in St Paul, eliminating the need to purchase additional engines and cars. This would greatly reduce capital costs.
• The study (page A-15) estimated travel time on a second daily intercity passenger train from St Paul to Fargo at 5 hours, 20 minutes (it’s actually 5 hours). We believe the travel time would be closer to 4 hours and 30 minutes. On the route between Saint Paul and Chicago, the Borealis is faster than the Empire Builder due to shorter dwell time at stations and no double stops since the trains are shorter.
• The study says a westbound arrival time of midnight in Fargo/Moorhead is not convenient (page A-15). We don’t believe arrival would need to be that late – but even if it was, it’s a better arrival time than 4 AM. An eastbound departure from Fargo/Moorhead could be at 6 AM vs. the current Empire Builder time of 3 AM which is also more convenient. It’s worth noting that the Wisconsin DOT might consider an earlier Borealis departure in the future which would mean an earlier arrival time in Fargo/Moorhead.

We also believe that background data for the study is needed to better understand the numbers presented. We thought it unfortunate that the study did not mention the tremendous support from civic leaders located in the corridor from St Paul through Fargo/Moorhead for an extension of the Borealis.

AAMN releases Twin Cities to Kansas City Route Study

In late 2024, All Aboard Minnesota completed a lengthy report entitled Twin Cities - Kansas City Route Study. This report is a culmination of work done by AAMN board members Bob Moen and Brian Nelson examining the potential to reinstate passenger rail service on the route between Minneapolis/Saint Paul and Kansas City Missouri (TC to KC). The report finds that this approximately 500-mile corridor could support up to three passenger trains per day and serve approximately 190,000 passengers per year. Moen and Nelson evaluated infrastructure quality and needs, possible station needs and locations, examined potential routes, and developed ridership estimates and forecasts. AAMN believes that this route has the second highest ridership potential in the Midwest due to the number of communities it would serve and ability to connect with Amtrak’s Zephyr and Southwest Chief - routes serving the west and southwest US..

This route would serve the Minnesota communities of Northfield, Faribault, Owatonna, and Albert Lea, plus Iowa destinations Mason City, Nevada (Ames), and Des Moines. AAMN found the railroad to be in great condition. Current owner Union Pacific has invested significantly in the line and passenger trails could travel at 79 mph. The corridor has moderate freight train traffic..

MnDOT has moved the TC to KC route to Tier 1 study status, placing it behind Duluth and Chicago. AAMN organized the report in the format of a Federal Railroad Administration Corridor ID application to help advance this new service. We provided this study to departments of transportation in Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri, along with the Minnesota House and Senate Transportation Committee chairs, the Governor’s office, and several other interested parties. Our hope is that MnDOT will apply to the Federal Railroad Administration for a Corridor ID grant for this corridor. Link to corridor ID website.

Train Days!

Join us June 7-8, 2025! AAMN will be exhibiting again this year at Train Days at St. Paul Union Depot.