The Ballad of Northfield, Minnesota: Promise and Pitfalls of Passenger Rail Plans

Minnesota’s Twin Cities – as much as any other region in North America – currently represents the unlimited potential of passenger rail in reinvigorating communities. New light-rail lines are stretching out in all directions, Northstar commuter trains speed to Big Lake and eventually St. Cloud in its namesake direction and the twin hubs of Minneapolis’ Target Field and St. Paul’s Union Depot contrast brilliantly with modern and historic flair. Streetcar routes are under discussion, as is restored intercity service to the state’s other large cities in Duluth and Rochester. Securing enough investment is always a challenge, but those concerns are almost always mirrored by exciting questions like when will the trains start running?

Just 45 miles to the south, Northfield, Minn., is the type of place just beyond the limits of passenger rail’s potential. Eagerly anticipating robust links to the Twin Cities – and beyond – Northfield has the sort of conditions that are natural qualifiers for passenger rail service along with the kind of challenges that leaves such connections just out of reach. For now.

The Promise of Rail in Small Town America

With a population of just over 20,000, Northfield has been defined by two sources of activity since its founding in 1855: agriculture and education. Its motto speaks to those realities: “Cows, Colleges and Contentment.” The area’s field growers produce staples such as wheat, corn and soybeans with numerous dairy and hog farms, while the liberal arts Carleton and St. Olaf colleges enroll more than 5,000 students each year. At the height of passenger and agricultural rail traffic before the 1950s, three rail lines funneled trains into the city from the Twin Cities to the north and Red Wing to the east, while just as many fanned out from Faribault, 13 miles to the south, making the region a historic Midwestern rail pipeline.

Today, that legacy has engendered in Northfield a small urban community that stands to enjoy a flourishing future with assets increasingly desired by younger and older Americans alike: distinctive historic housing stock on streets lined with mature trees; a unique, accessible town center with small shops and restaurants; and stable employment centers like education and health care to create and maintain well-paying jobs. Places like Northfield offer more leisurely residential living for workers seeing a contrast to the bustle of large urban cores like the Twin Cities, attract smaller companies seeking lower operating costs, lure college students seeking that college town vibe and invite city dwellers to journey out on a weekend or evening for a community festival or a well-regarded restaurant or craft brewery. But all those attributes depend on an comfortable and reliable way to get there.

Council Member Suzie Nakasian represents Northfield’s east side neighborhoods in the First Ward on the city’s council and is the body’s champion for restoring passenger rail service to the area. In addition to her role on the Council, she heads up the Central Minnesota Passenger Rail Initiative (CMPRI), a grassroots effort to build support for a series of routes throughout the state’s central and southern regions. For Nakasian, the intersection between mobility and community development is what makes passenger rail so attractive for place like Northfield.

“Northfield has the perfect combination of assets and opportunities to make rail service successful: proximity to a major urban area, affordable housing, strong academic institutions and a vibrant commercial district,” says Nakasian, during a visit to RAIL Magazine’s editorial offices in Washington, D.C.  “We have strong needs to both move people to the Twin Cities – to commute to work, reach the airport, attend sports and entertainment events, and more – and bring people here, for our colleges, places to raise a family or come down for a festival or shopping for things like antiques and art. Our travel demand is bi-directional.”

"Restoring passenger rail on the corridor serving Northfield and other communities would give people another option of travel in the southern metro and southern Minnesota, whereas today the only options are car and limited bus service," says Erik Ecklund, who administers the Support the Dan Patch Rail Line effort (read our full discussion with Ecklund – ed). "More people want to live close to transit, and communities with good transit options will thrive." 

The Beginnings of an Intercity Rail Corridor

Beyond Northfield’s need and ability to produce passenger traffic to the Twin Cities is a larger desire to offer intercity passenger rail service on north – south corridors in the nation’s heartland. Amtrak’s current long-distance routes linking Chicago and the west coast are oriented for east-west service. In fact, the Coast Starlight between Seattle and Mississippi is the only north-south Amtrak long-distance route train west of the Mississippi River. The CMPRI advocates the introduction of new service from the Twin Cities south through Northfield and Faribault into Iowa and Missouri to serve Albert Lea, Mason City, Des Moines and, ultimately, Kansas City. When combined with northward extension of Amtrak’s existing Heartland Flyer north from Oklahoma City via Tulsa to Kansas City, Northfield could host rail service connecting the Twin Cities to Texas’ Metroplex.

Myriad options of active and abandoned rail corridors (see above map) exist throughout the Midwest to achieve a Twin Cities – Texas passenger route, as well as new regional service within Minnesota. Several different paths are possible between Northfield and Minneapolis or Saint Paul, while other lines could bring new routes from the Twin Cities to Marshall and Rapid City or Mankato and Sioux City. Additionally, Canadian Pacific’s lightly-used Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern line offers an east-west option across Minnesota’s southern tier, potentially linking Amtrak’s Empire Builder at Winona with Rochester, Owatonna, Mankato and points west.

In 2015, the Minnesota Department of Transportation identified the Central Minnesota Rail Corridor – the north-south route heading south from the Twin Cities through Northfield, Faribault, Owatonna and Albert Lea – as it’s top-ranked passenger rail option because of strong support for service among elected leaders along the line. While Nakasian takes pride in the route’s backing among her counterparts in neighboring communities, she believes a rising tide lifts all boats for passenger rail options in central and southern Minnesota.

“We feel strongly about the Central Minnesota Rail Corridor as a practical option that could quickly produce numerous benefits to the communities it would serve,” says Nakasian, who also notes the city recently relocated its historic 1888 Union Pacific depot (see rendering at right) to a more optimal spot for passenger trains to stop in town. “We see it as the first step in building momentum for a true regional rail network to connect central Minnesota’s vibrant cities and towns.”

Pitfalls to Progress: A Racing Horse, Two State Senators and Limited Funding

Dan Patch: the horse that named a railroad

Perhaps the most natural route for trains from Northfield to travel en route to the Twin Cities is the so-called Dan Patch line. In 1907, Minnesota entrepreneur Marion Willis Savage founded the Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Company, an interurban line stretching south and west from Minneapolis through St. Louis Park, Edina and Bloomington and then tacking to the southeast to reach Lakeville and Northfield. It became known as the Dan Patch Line as Savage used it to promote his famous harness racing horse of the same name, whom he stabled in the community that ultimately was called Savage in his honor. The line was ultimately acquired by the Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern Railway in 1918 after Savage and his beloved horse died within days of each other. That railroad ultimately became part of the Soo Line in 1982, which, in turn, was then acquired by the Canadian Pacific Railway a decade later.

Dan Patch line courtesy of
Support the Dan Patch Line

Today, the line’s right-of-way is intact and although its track in various states of use and repair, it still serves as a prime potential corridor for passenger rail service between the Twin Cities and Northfield, passing through several well-populated suburban communities west and south of Minneapolis. Some state and local officials took note of the opportunity offered by the route as planning for the region’s first commuter rail line – the Northstar – intensified in the late 1990s and early 2000s. At that time, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) identified the corridor as the most likely to succeed after the Northstar line from the Twin Cities towards St. Cloud.

Dan Patch line courtesy of 
Support the Dan Patch Line

But not long after the project appeared on long-term planning documents, it disappeared from all official state plans through the work of state senators William Belanger and Roy Terwilliger, representing the Minneapolis suburbs of Bloomington and Edina, respectively. Their 2002 legislation ­– Chapter 393, Sec. 85. Dan Patch Commuter Rail Line; Prohibitions – specifically banned any formal study, planning or funding of commuter rail on the Dan Patch corridor by MnDOT. The law effectively silenced any significant discussion of passenger rail service on the corridor for more than a decade.

While Belanger and Terwilliger’s ban may be seen as opposition from anti-transit hardliners, it moreso reflected the sentiments of the communities they represented at the time. In 2002, Metro Transit had yet to open the region’s first high-capacity transit line – today’s Blue Line light rail from downtown Minneapolis to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the Mall of America. The project was under discussion for more than 15 years and many were skeptical about the entire concept. Accordingly, Bloomington and Edina were in no hurry to install another new rail mode – commuter rail – on a corridor that cuts through the hearts of residential neighborhoods and commercial districts.

"Elected officials who are unsure or opposed to the Dan Patch Corridor should keep an open mind and remember that many people support this and times have changed dramatically since the legislative ban on this project in 2002," says Erik Ecklund. "Most of us have realized that we can't keep depending on the automobile for all of our travels and we need options. We also can't keep widening our roads to try to relieve congestion. The Dan Patch Corridor wouldn't just be a benefit to Minneapolis and the southern suburbs, but also southern Minnesota."

High-capacity transit projects in the Twin Cities

Beyond the state prohibition on activity related to the Dan Patch line, the bigger obstacle to momentum along the corridor has been the lack of investment opportunities to support the region’s long list of transit capital priorities. From the time of the 2002 legislation, popular support for new rail and bus rapid transit (BRT) projects in the area has grown steadily as the Blue Line opened in 2004, followed by the Northstar to Big Lake in 2010, Red Line BRT in 2013, and theGreen Line light rail connecting the Twin Cities in 2014. Currently, the region’s most-desired projects – extensions of both the Blue and Green lines – are struggling to receive investment from the state, despite having already secured billions from local and federal sources. Simply put, the Dan Patch corridor’s biggest challenge today isn’t from outdated legislation – which many leaders along the corridor, like Nakasian, feel could be easily removed by state senators currently representing the area, with Belanger and Terwilliger having left the body. Instead, the route is too far down the list to have a realistic shot at required investment, at least under the current framework for distributing transit funding.

“We realize the region has a long wish list of transit projects it hopes to implement,” says Nakasian. “We feel we have a good case based on costs and benefits, but pragmatically, there’s a number of communities that are waiting for their turn ahead of us.”

Playing the Long Game, But Hoping for More Immediate Results

Although returning regional or long-distance passenger rail service to Northfield via the Dan Patch line or another route is waiting for the right alignment of political support and investment opportunities, Nakasian and other leaders waiting for the trains to roll again point to how much has changed in recent years for mobility options, both within the Twin Cities metropolitan region and society at large. At the dawn of the millennium, new high-capacity transit routes in Minneapolis and St. Paul were herculean tasks. Now, they can’t come soon enough. At the same time, only the most prescient futurists could have predicted real-time travel options powered by an app on a cell phone. The point, according to Nakasian, is that things change quickly these days, and change favors the prepared.

“We’re ready to move quickly when and if we sense an opportunity to make this happen,” says Nakasian. “We’re doing that by working together with leaders in our neighboring communities and our state and federal representatives to remove any doubt that we’re supportive of the kind of difference passenger rail can make to places like Northfield.”