Progress in St. Paul: moving the train station downtown
The Ramsey County Board approved a purchase of land in downtown St. Paul for moving the Amtrak station there over the next few years
From comments in Pat Lynch's Trains for American blog:
Interestingly, the Ramsey County Board also has the power to sit as the Regional Rail Authority, which presumably has its own bonding authority. It also appears that federal money will finance the purchase of the historic building from the Postal Service to be converted to a multimodal station by 2012.
Great move Ramsey County!
Now, let's finance a second Empire Builder between Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul since this long-distance train consistently sells out and has the highest ridership of any long-distance train.
From comments in Pat Lynch's Trains for American blog:
The current station is in the ‘Midway’ district, a largely industrial area straddling Minneapolis and St. Paul, sandwiched between the BNSF and CP mainlines through the Twin Cities. There are no easy connections to mass transit, and certainly nothing worth note within walking distance.Thanks to Pat for finding the Star Tribune story.Moving to the St. Paul Union Depot would simply move the station further east on the current line, but that would be right in the heart of Downtown St. Paul, also with a future mass transit connection to the Central Corridor light rail line, with service to downtown Minneapolis.
Interestingly, the Ramsey County Board also has the power to sit as the Regional Rail Authority, which presumably has its own bonding authority. It also appears that federal money will finance the purchase of the historic building from the Postal Service to be converted to a multimodal station by 2012.
Great move Ramsey County!
Now, let's finance a second Empire Builder between Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul since this long-distance train consistently sells out and has the highest ridership of any long-distance train.
posted by Dan Johnson at 10:37 AM
1 Comments:
The route needs a second frequency - one that is opposite the current (former Great Northern route) Empire Builder. This would allow stops now served in the middle of the night to have service in daylight hours. Both predecessor railroads on the CHI-MSP-SEA route did this effectively through the '60's. Add the (ex-Northern Pacific) southern route now being discussed and passenger access and connectivity would be greatly enhanced, and the additional revenenues would spread fixed route and overhead costs over a greater revenue and passenger base.
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