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Derailed Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Minnesota's North Star Rail
Manage episode 499773930 series 3548113
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The North Star Rail line in Minnesota is being canceled after struggling with ridership, particularly following a devastating 98% drop during the pandemic. Though originally conceived as an 80-mile connection between Minneapolis and St. Cloud, budget constraints limited it to just 40 miles ending in Big Lake, setting the project up for challenges from the start.
• 40-mile commuter rail line with seven stations running from Minneapolis to Big Lake
• Pre-pandemic ridership approached 800,000 annually but collapsed to just 400 daily riders today
• Service reduction from six to four daily round trips further hampered recovery efforts
• Recent transit-oriented development along the route now threatened by line's cancellation
• Metropolitan Council replacing rail service with buses, reducing operating budget from $12M to $2M
• Original plan to extend to St. Cloud (population 70,000) never materialized
• Lack of stations in key areas like north Minneapolis likely limited potential ridership
• Political pressure accelerated the cancellation
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Chapters
1. Episode Introduction (00:00:00)
2. ] Post-COVID Ridership Collapse (00:03:43)
3. ] Station-by-Station Analysis (00:07:26)
4. 3] Politics and Final Cancellation Decision (00:13:36)
5. 2] Closing Remarks (00:16:13)
6. North Star Rail Cancellation Overview (00:18:38)
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