Northern Lights Express

[Korh]

In my more cynical moments I kinda view some politicians who are "transit advocates" as people who want to either be the ones who will sign a bill/law that gives a project funding or to be the ones that cut the ribbon when it opens but make sure to be missing when its neck deep in construction and some unknow issues pop up *cough SWLRT *cough. (coincidently politicians from the other side will swoop in and start to make a stink to drum up support)

Point is I kinda believe if we want more projects in the pipeline with quicker timelines they need to be seen as a more mundane thing because right now it just attracts grifters on both sides of the aisle the gums things up at best, derails it at worse.

[DanPatchToget]

In my more cynical moments I kinda view some politicians who are "transit advocates" as people who want to either be the ones who will sign a bill/law that gives a project funding or to be the ones that cut the ribbon when it opens but make sure to be missing when its neck deep in construction and some unknow issues pop up *cough SWLRT *cough. (coincidently politicians from the other side will swoop in and start to make a stink to drum up support)

Point is I kinda believe if we want more projects in the pipeline with quicker timelines they need to be seen as a more mundane thing because right now it just attracts grifters on both sides of the aisle the gums things up at best, derails it at worse.

So see it as something normal like a road project, instead of on one side drumming it up to be something that will revolutionize the Twin Ports and on the other side hyping it up to be a massive money pit that the Twin Ports will never recover from?

If I'm understanding you correctly, then I agree, it should be seen as a normal infrastructure project instead of one or the other extremes. While NLX will, whenever it gets built, be a good alternative over I-35 for certain non-tourist trips and a nice way for Twin Cities folks to visit the Twin Ports and for Twin Ports folks to visit the Twin Cities, I also don't think it's something major/revolutionary/whatever words politicians use these days to drum up support. Having been to many places where traveling by train is normal, that's what NLX is to me; it's a normal and commonsense piece of transportation.

[Korh]

Yep, although to be fair I haven't seen a lot of of hyperbolic statements for or against NLX (or at least compared to other projects I can think of), but its still there and still can negatively effect the project.

[SurlyLHT]

I've been really looking forward to this project. Was it evitable that they would miss these deadlines/expiration dates? Are there any ways to speed things up?

[mattaudio]

Biden in Duluth/Superior tomorrow to do his second boast in two years about supporting the Blatnik Bridge project - I can't imagine Amtrak Joe will be announcing anything about NLX during the visit?

[angrysuburbanite]

What’s holding this project up at this point? From what I understand, it’s fully funded, is it just station placement/amenities and rolling stock procurement now?

[Wezle]

Unfortunately it isn't fully funded. Last year when the legislature passed the state funding of the project, it was with the intention of receiving a federal match. In December when the FRA made grant announcements, NLX didn't receive funding this round. I think there will be another round of grants given out at the end of this year where it'll have another go at federal funding?

[thespeedmccool]

I think MN was denied funding because our environmental review was out of date, yeah? Will that be updated before the fall funding round?

[angrysuburbanite]

Aww

I want this train so badly!! At this rate we won’t get a train for another decade or two…

[EOst]

Slow progress on the TCMC second train has been an impediment for NLX. Ramsey County finalized the Union Depot lease just this week, so service on that should begin (fingers crossed) in a couple months.

[Silophant]

My understanding is that the MnDOT Passenger Rail office is, like, three people. Not much capacity there to do multiple things at once.