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Earlier this month I took a trip to the Twin Cities to say goodbye to the Northstar commuter rail as Metro Transit phased it out in favor of expanded bus services.
Target Field Stationās ground level entrance, featuring Go-to readers for each station on the line.
Northstarās History
A lot of my research for this section comes from Wikipedia and the sources they have cited.
Originally, Northstar was supposed to be around 82 miles long with 11 stations between Minneapolis and Rice, MN.
Construction began in September 2007 on the maintenance facility in Big Lake. Federal funding was officialy secured after Deputy Secretary of Transportation Thomas Barrett met with then-Governor Tim Pawlenty in December 2011.
Service officially began on November 16, 2009 and ended on January 4, 2026.*
*The last train was technically on Jan. 4, but it was an event train for the Packers-Vikings game that day. The last regularly scheduled train was on Jan. 2.
A review of Northstar
Now Iām not going to be delusional here and say that Northstar was a good line, but I do believe it couldāve been so much better if it was given a chance.
Even though ridership was solid pre-COVID, it never grew beyond it. Part of this was a lack of trains during off-peak hours, weekends, and holidays. Many commuter rail systems across the country are facing this issue, partially because the way people work is changing to more flexible hours and remote work.
The Last Trips*
*The last regularly scheduled trips.
I wasnāt on the last trip, as I had to leave the city earlier in the day. I was however on some of the last regularly scheduled trips, but still not the exact last since I didnāt want to pay for a $100 taxi back to the city.
I was on the 3rd to last northbound (to Big Lake), and the last southbound (to Target Field) trips on January 2nd.
Two Northstar trains at Target Field Station at 3:18pm on January 2nd, 2026.
The view southbound from the Nicollet Island Silver Railroad Bridge crossing the Missippi River.
An old Milwaukee Road coach car, at the Friends of the 261.
The eastern entrance to Fridley station, leading to an underpass to access the platform.
Locomotive #501 idles at Big Lake before the last northbound trip.
A view from the front of the cab car on the Northbound trip.
The last northbound trip departs Target Field Station
Where do the trains go now?
Apparently Amtrak is eyeing up one of the sets to use on the Hiawatha over in Milwaukee/Chicago, which would be interesting to see as Amtrak has never operated this type of locomotive/coach/cab car.
In Conclusion
Itās sad to see Northstar go, only because this throws away the possibility of expanding commuter rain in the Twin Cities for the foreseeable future.