4.5. SR 09-21-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1. Corridor Description The Northstar Corridor's rail component consists of approximately 65 miles of track connecting the heart of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area with the City of St. Cloud. It includes all of the communities along the east and no~:th bank of the Mississippi River between North Minneapolis and St. Cloud: Columbia Heights, Fridley, Coon Rapids, Anoka, Ramsey, Elk River, Big Lake, Becker, and Clear Lake. Beyond St. Cloud the railroad line continues on to reach Sauk Rapids and Rice, which are also in the study area. The line serves parts of the counties of Steams, ,,Benton, Sherburne, Anoka, and Hennepin. The main rail line serving the corridor, and the only line linking the core of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area with St. Cloud, is a mainline of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF). Field observations indicate that the BNSF mainline is built and maintained to high standards. The line is CTC-equipped between the Northtown Yard (north of Minneapolis)and Coon Creek Junction, in the City of Coon Rapids, and between Big Lake and the west. The intermediate section has automatic block signals. North of Northtown Yard, the line is double- tracked, except for the 10 1/2 mile section between Big Lake and Becker. The line has heavy Class IV track, with continuous welded rail for the most part. Between Coon Creek Jct. and St. Cloud, passenger train speeds are 75mph or greater, with the exception of some crossovers and a few other restrictions. 2. Present and Historic Service AMTRAK's westbound transcontinental Empire Btdlder, en route to Seattle, is scheduled to cover the 63 miles between Midway Station in St. Paul and St. Cloud in 90 minutes without an intermediate stop, an average speed of 42mph. A disproportionately large share of the 90 minutes is consumed threading the few miles between St. Paul and the north end of the Northtown Yards between Minneapolis and Fridley. The daily Empire Builder is presently the only rail passenger service on this line. Originally, this stretch of railroad was a joint line of two of BNSF's predecessors - the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railroad. In relatively "modern times", most of the passenger service, and almost all of the service performing any local work between St. Cloud and the Twin Cities, was performed by the Northern Pacific. Great Northern, having its own direct western transcontinental mainline via Willmar, and its own secondary route to St. Cloud via Monticello, operated only a few through trains over this line. In 1960, Northern Pacific's Mainstreeter was scheduled for the Minneapolis (Hennepin Avenue) - St. Cloud run of 65 miles in 77 minutes, including one stop in Elk River; average speed: 5 lmph. Interestingly, purely local coach trains continuing to International Falls, Bismarck and Mandan covered the 65 miles to St. Cloud in 78 minutes, with scheduled stops in Anoka and Elk River, and flag stops in Big Lake, Becker and Clear Lake. Freight service is heavy on this line, with 35-50 trains per day.