Passenger rail service to Duluth may be slower to arrive than hoped

DULUTH — Supporters of the Northern Lights Express line had reason to feel a bit crestfallen Friday morning, as they received disappointing news of scant initial federal funding for a project that promises to restore passenger rail service between the Twin Ports and the Twin Cities.

The Minnesota Legislature has set aside $194.7 million in support of the project, in hopes that it would leverage four times as much federal aid. But the Northern Lights Express came up short in the latest round of allocations announced by the Federal Railroad Administration early Friday morning.

The NLX didn’t strike out entirely, however, receiving Corridor Identification funding to the tune of up to $500,000. Those federal funds are intended to help the Minnesota Department of Transportation “enter Step 1 of the program, to develop a scope, schedule and cost estimate for preparing, completing or documenting its service development plan,” according to a news release from the Federal Railroad Administration.

In all, 69 proposed projects nationwide received Corridor Identification grants of as much as $500,000, totaling $34.5 million in all.

However, a senior transportation administration official said more could be in the offing: “In terms of the Corridor ID program, that is a set-aside program, and there is additional funding available on top of the $35 million roughly, that we’ve awarded. So, as these corridors progress to the next step in the process, there is funding available in the range of 10’s of millions of dollars to move these projects to the next part of the project cycle.”

Overall though, the lion’s share of federal rail funding went to 10 projects that were awarded Federal-State Partnership Intercity Service grants totaling $8.2 billion. NLX advocates had aimed to be part of that elite, high-priority group. But they will have to wait their turn for a bigger piece of the pie, at least for now.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg pointed to the major role railroads played in our nation’s development.

“Yet for decades now, our country has lagged behind other nations when it comes to the quality, speed and reliability of our passenger rail,” he said.

“Any American who has traveled to Europe, Japan, China or many other developed countries has probably seen for themselves how differently those countries have approached passenger rail, seeing how easy and affordable it can be in other countries. And they come home saying, ‘Why can’t we have this in America?'

“We feel the same way, and under President Biden’s leadership, we are now making the largest investment in passenger rail since Amtrak was created in the first place, ” Buttigieg said.

As for the Corridor ID program, Buttigieg said, “What we’re doing here is we’re creating a pipeline for promising intercity rail projects to get them ready for future investment. And we’ll continue working with railroads, state governments and others to bring those projects to fruition.

“These projects are still in early planning stages, but they include visions like bringing new service between the Twin Cities and Duluth in Minnesota; new service between Phoenix and Tucson; in Louisiana new service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. And it looks at ways to expand connections and improve service in California and Florida in their intercity rail networks,” Buttigieg said.

White House Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Coordinator Mitch Landrieu said public officials have long dreamed of improved domestic rail but have done little to achieve it.

“It’s something that of course people have talked about for a long time, but President Biden is really the only one who has walked the walk and is bringing the receipts,” he said.

“So, when you think about it, we’re rebuilding America and winning the global competition for the 21st century. We’re creating our nation’s first high-speed rail system. We’re expanding access with new and improved service. We’re increasing train speeds and reducing delays, which is adding time back to people’s lives. We’re cleaning up our air by taking millions of cars off the road,” Landrieu said.

The proposed NLX service would share upgraded tracks along a 152-mile line currently owned by the Burlington, Northern & Santa Fe Railway. Top speeds on that track currently top out at about 50 mph, but would reach 90 mph with improvements for passenger rail service that would also benefit freight operations.

“It’s a real win-win, because you’re going to have better, smoother, stronger, more reliable freight movement and better, stronger passenger rail, including additional services and more reliable service along the routes that we have,” Buttigieg said

Competition for large awards has been fiercely competitive, according to Buttigieg.

“The successful applications were for the corridors that the FRA viewed as most prepared for advancement in their planning work,” he said, adding. “It’s early days for most of these that are in corridor ID. But I think it’s also fair to say that even as these projects advance, it’s not going to be 100% of the answer for a future rail system."

As proposed, NLX would run between Target Field Station in Minneapolis and the historic Union Depot in downtown Duluth. It would offer four round trips daily, lasting about 2½ hours each way.