DanPatchToget wrote: March 13th, 2026, 7:01 pm
I saw on a local railroad Facebook group that 2 locomotives and 8 coaches are on the move this evening heading to Texas, where they're being leased by Trinity Railway Express of Dallas/Fort Worth for the World Cup. It had me wondering if TRE would end up buying and keeping them, but TRE has ordered Siemens Chargers that will start to be delivered this summer, so maybe they'll either come back to Minnesota (obvious preference) or go somewhere else after the World Cup ends.
Texas is the Lone star state and is now claiming the title to the North star state.. Just imagine... the Amarillo Vikings! The Lubbock Timber wolves! The Fort Worth Twins!
But in all seriousness.. I doubt those trains will ever reach Minnesota ever again.. It was fun while it lasted.. to bad St. Could never got the train station that was planned from the start.
With the World Cup drawing to a close I wonder what will happen to the Northstar trains in Texas; TRE extends the lease or just buys them, they're sent back to Minnesota, or something else? Also one Northstar train was supposed to go to Amtrak for the Hiawatha service between Chicago and Milwaukee, but I haven't seen any updates on that.
Has anyone seen any of the stations recently? I biked by Target Field Station a week ago, and today checked out Coon Rapids-Riverdale Station, and both look pretty much untouched besides fencing around the platforms. Just curious if the rest of the stations are the same, or if there's been some removal/demolition.
Per someone on Reddit, who says they have a source close to negotiations:
MaceQuantex
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14d ago
Amtrak is in talks to acquire Target Field Station, the Anoka Station, and the Big Lake Maintenence Facility. They are not interested in any of the other stations. I'm not clear on their intentions for the Target Field Station (my guess is eventual use for the Northern Lights Express, but I've heard they might want it for the Borealis and/or Empire Builder as well). A month ot two ago they had a team in Anoka making a list of changes they needed made to make that station usable for them and, I'm told, the President of Amtrak sent them with a message of "Get this done. I want the Empire Builder stopping there ASAP." (It sounds like their plan is to stop the Empire Builder there now and if/when the Borealis gets extended, to then stop that train there as well). Not sure what their list looked like, but the main hangup has been the size of the insurance policy that BNSF wants someone to carry in case something happens at the station. The City of Anoka can't afford it so the station needs to be transferred to MnDOT (along with the lease rights for that parking ramp, which is currently held by the MetCouncil) because they can afford the policy.
Unclear if acquiring the Big Lake maintenance facility would include the station platform as well.
Kind of wonder if they want Big Lake as a place to park and refuel Borealis trains after a stop in Minneapolis and possibly Anoka? Wasn't the original hang-up about ending in Minneapolis that there that there's no fueling / layover infrastructure at the station?
Not directly related to Northstar, but as long as the government is negotiating with BNSF in the area of Target Field Station, can we get a pedestrian crossing of the RR tracks down here (where 4th St would be), linking North Loop Green's plaza to 5th Ave? Without it, it's kind of awkward accessing the "Green" of North Loop Green from the other side of the tracks. A connection to the Northstar platform already exists, it's just always been blocked by those locked gates, for station maintenance access only.
Regarding Amtrak possibly owning the Target Field Station platform, it seems like it would be better for that to remain under ownership of HCRRA or MN Ballpark Authority (owner of Target Field), just to retain local control over it.
Mdcastle wrote: August 6th, 2026, 8:23 am
Kind of wonder if they want Big Lake as a place to park and refuel Borealis trains after a stop in Minneapolis and possibly Anoka? Wasn't the original hang-up about ending in Minneapolis that there that there's no fueling / layover infrastructure at the station?
That's my guess. I suspect they'd also use it for maintaining NLX trains as well if that ever gets going, rather than have to work out a system to rotate the trainsets back to Chicago.
I had the same thought about NLX benefiting from the Big Lake OMF. The original NLX proposal included building a new OMF in Sandstone, but given the level of inflation that's occurred since NLX was first proposed, I would assume there's a funding gap somewhere between 500M-$1B that would need to be resolved for some form of NLX to move forward. Cutting the OMF and instead renovating the Big Lake facility to maintain the NLX trains seems like an easy win to lower project costs.
(However, there would still need to be some level of support facility for train layover, refueling, and catering on the NLX corridor. I don't see BNSF allowing Amtrak to make daily non-revenue moves on the mainline all the way from Target Field to Big Lake)
Re an at-grade ped crossing at 4th St, no way - railroads are highly oppositional to new grade crossings of any kind. I've been working to try and add a MUP crossing next to an existing BNSF highway crossing and it's a nightmare. In a nearby city, BNSF policy required closure of two at-grade crossings for BNSF to approve a single new crossing.
Re Big Lake - some minimal track changes would be needed to make it a viable O&M facility. It was designed for trains to back out of the Big Lake station pocket track to access the O&M, something which presumably wouldn't be the move for Amtrak.
Anyone hear if the existing stations will remain as ped crossings even if platforms are removed? Fridley and Ramsey seem like the most useful infrastructure beyond train access. Coon Rapids was an overpass to nowhere, except the southbound platform.
I know Fridley was working on a way to remove the station platform but keep the tunnel, and possibly extend it so it ramps up to surface level on each end so they don't have to maintain the elevators. Not sure how that's going, though.
Without knowing the status of NLX, wouldn't it be wise to keep Fridley Station and use that instead of building a new station in Coon Rapids where one will soon be torn down? Or at least study using Fridley Station as an alternative to building a new station at Foley Boulevard? Something about seeing stations that aren't even 20 years old getting removed while on the same set of tracks building a new station just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Only reason I can think of for Foley Boulevard being better is in theory NLX trains wouldn't need to block both mainline tracks going through Coon Creek Junction.
blo442 wrote: August 6th, 2026, 3:53 pm
I had the same thought about NLX benefiting from the Big Lake OMF. The original NLX proposal included building a new OMF in Sandstone, but given the level of inflation that's occurred since NLX was first proposed, I would assume there's a funding gap somewhere between 500M-$1B that would need to be resolved for some form of NLX to move forward. Cutting the OMF and instead renovating the Big Lake facility to maintain the NLX trains seems like an easy win to lower project costs.
(However, there would still need to be some level of support facility for train layover, refueling, and catering on the NLX corridor. I don't see BNSF allowing Amtrak to make daily non-revenue moves on the mainline all the way from Target Field to Big Lake)
Other than refueling it seems like they could use Target field station for that. There is already a breakroom/hotel facility in there for the Northstar drivers and the Green line extension was supposed to include a tail track all the way to 94 that wasn't installed but the space is still there for it. I feel like you could find a space for a refueling spot or just have that take place in Duluth.
Good points about Fridley or a hypothetical Foley Blvd platform being the only locations that could also support NLX.
Fridley is likely the better choice since it already has platforms, was built for a third mainline track west of the platform (something likely necessary between Northtown and Coon Creek Junction if NLX was going to happen). It has a decent park & ride and is close to I-694 but is surface parking in a residential area, and not-great transit connectivity - the low-service 827 on East River Road or a >1/4 mi walk to the 10/future F Line. That said, if there's a way to mothball the Fridley station for future NLX use, seems worth it.
Adding platforms and more tracks at Foley Blvd would require replacement of the 8-lane TH-610 bridge over the BNSF which probably can't even squeeze in a third track. No idea why that was built as such a narrow bridge. Also, the freeway connectivity is not that great except for to/from 610 to the west (towards Downtown Minneapolis) and it's probably less central to the north metro for Amtrak use vs something along I-694.
That said, given how NLX is far from reality, I can't blame Amtrak for pursuing other assets for Empire Builder and Borealis service.
Re TFS, I am still wondering if that station has much of a future for Amtrak. It's not that close to the CBD and requires a back-up move to through-run the station. I've at least wondered why there isn't a swap of the two single-track switch points to enable full double tracking from the station throat to Mpls Jct. This would increase capacity - e.g. a BNSF train from the Wayzata Sub to Northtown would not interfere with a Borealis from SPUD accessing TFS.
Long ago I had a dream of new trackage under the I-94 viaduct up to the Strib plant trackage and to the NP bridge to allow trains to hit a modified TFS while still through-running the BNSF Transcon. Obviously that's further from reality than all the rest. Then, when it seemed we could get a Nicollet-Central Streetcar ending or crossing Mpls Jct, I thought that would be a good spot for a through-running intercity train station for Minneapolis. That's not happening. Recently, I saw a roadgeek dreamer had a suggestion for a station behind Huntington Bank Stadium at the end of 23rd Ave SE, a location right on the mainline that would allow through-routing of all hypothetical services while still affording a close connection to the Green Line to access downtown.
