Amtrak: Empire Builder and Borealis (TCMC)

[HuskyGrad]

I thought it might be worthwhile to build a station over Central Avenue here. Then in the future you could build light rail up Central or if they wanted to build a branch line to the St. Paul Campus and Fairground they could build a station at the transitway bridge over the railroad.



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[Korh]

Out of curiosity when comparing TF and SPUD, which station to you guys think is currently as is and which one do you think has more potential if they actually had frequent train device?

[commissioner]

I'm thinking SPUD, mainly because they have more room to put trains if need be and the Empire Builder doesn't have to back up a mile or so (which I'm sure would be a deal breaker for BNSF for Target Field).

[Silophant]

Mod note: split discussion of the FRA Long-Distance study off to its own thread.

[Silophant]

All Aboard Minnesota has an update in their Q1 Newsletter. Still no start date, but apparently operating agreements are nearing completion. The service will be named the Borealis. Thematically appropriate if the long-term intent is to combine it with NLX once that gets going.

[Tcmetro]

The Horizon cars are more comfortable than the new Venture cars IMO, so I'm glad about that.

[Wezle]

Borealis service officially begins on May 21st! Looks like it'll be the same arrival and departure time on both ends (11:50am to 7:14pm).

[Silophant]

[ron_paul_its_happening.gif]

Eastbound is scheduled for 11:05 departure from Chicago with a 6:30 arrival in St. Paul, not that I booked a trip as soon as seeing the news or anything.

[twincitizen]

I just checked the Amtrak website and you can officially buy tickets for Borealis service. Interesting that the two departures from St. Paul are just 3 hours apart, 8:50am on Empire Builder and 11:50am on Borealis. Borealis is a bit quicker - 7h24m, while the Empire takes 7h55m. The westbound departures out of Chicago are 11:05am (Borealis) and 3:05pm (Empire), with identical durations as the eastbound trips.

[mulad]

Here's their announcement

https://media.amtrak.com/2024/05/introd ... milwaukee/

They also have posts up on Facebook and Instagram
https://www.facebook.com/Amtrak/posts/p ... hJsKM11Bel
https://www.instagram.com/p/C6bn-Brr4sc/

[Mdcastle]

Would have been nice if the timing had been condusive to day trips to Wisconsin Dells, but oh well. I've done quite a few car trips where I've left at 6 in the morning and gotten back home after midnight.