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Managing editor

Commuter rail service between Big Lake and Minneapolis through Anoka County began Monday, Nov. 16 with no glitches and 1,207 paying passengers.

And, according to Bob Gibbons, Metro Transit director of customer services, all five trains running during the morning rush hour arrived at the downtown Minneapolis station at the scheduled time.

Assuming morning riders returned home that afternoon on the train, first-day totals will reach 2,414 rides, 70 percent of average weekday ridership expected during the first year, Gibbons said.

“We are delighted,” he said.

Each four-car train has seating for 560 passengers - 140 in each - and the goal is to build ridership to 3,400 in the first year, Gibbons said.

The most popular train in terms of ridership was the 6:19 a.m. from Big Lake which arrived at the Target Field station in downtown Minneapolis following the 51-minute ride at 7:10 a.m., he said.

“That had more than 300 people,” Gibbons said.

Tim Yantos, executive director of both the Northstar Corridor Development Authority (NCDA) and the Anoka County Regional Rail Authority, was also happy by the morning rush-hour ridership.

“I was very pleased to see the number of people and cars at the Anoka station this morning,” Yantos said.

“It is going to take time for people to get used to people riding the train.”

But there were no problems reported and that is good news, according to Yantos.

A sampling of passengers waiting to board the second Northstar train of the morning, which arrived at the Riverdale Station in Coon Rapids at 6:12 a.m. for the 28-minute run to Minneapolis, showed strong interest in commuter rail service.

Since April, Paul Volkmuth had been riding the commuter coach bus service from the Riverdale Park and Ride lot to downtown  Minneapolis, which ended when Northstar started operations today.

But he was looking forward to taking the train since he was from Chicago, Ill., where he always rode the commuter train to work, according to Volkmuth.

“I couldn’t believe there was no commuter rail service when I moved here,” Volkmuth said.

There was added convenience for Volkmuth with the link to Hiawatha Light Rail at the Target Field station because he works at the Hennepin County Medical Center, which is near the light rail station at the Metrodome.

The light rail connection was also a plus for Farah Rosburg in riding commuter rail to work, she said.

“Commuter rail beats sitting in traffic jams and parking expenses,” Rosburg said.

Driving to work can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a hour depending on the traffic, she said.

For Jennifer Rammer, commuting to work on Northstar has an added benefit.

She is reimbursed the fare by her company for taking public transit to work instead of driving, according to Rammer.

And by not driving, she saves $5.75 a day in parking, Rammer said.

Jesse Cameron had been riding the commuter coach to work, but was “interested in the train” as an alternative to driving, even though it was $1 more to ride the train in comparison to the bus, he said.

Carla Catalano, another former bus rider, “was excited about the train,” she said.

“There is too much traffic to drive to work,” Catalano said.

Catalano is also from Chicago, Ill., where getting to and from work via a commuter train is the norm, she said.

Northstar offers five morning rush-hour trips to Minneapolis and five trips home in the afternoon as well as one reverse-commute trip.  Three roundtrips are available on Saturdays and Sundays.

“Today was a good beginning to a service that has been nearly 13 years in the making,” said Metro Transit General Manager Brian Lamb.

“With speeds up to 79 mph, Northstar offers a fast trip and, more importantly, a consistent trip – 51 minutes end-to-end regardless of weather and nearby road congestion.  

“Northstar provides a viable alternative to driving alone in a car for those who live along the Highway 10 corridor.”

Metro Transit posted staff members at each of Northstar’s six stations – Big Lake, Elk River, Anoka, Coon Rapids, Fridley and Target Field in Minneapolis - to help customers get acquainted with Northstar service.  

Those staff members will be on hand through Wednesday and again over the weekend.  

Then, as intended, Northstar will become a self-service operation.

Customers pay fares prior to boarding trains with prices ranging from $3.25 to $7 depending on the distance of the trip; the fare is $4 from both Anoka and Coon Rapids.  

Most customers use Metro Transit’s Go-To smartcards that offer a 10 percent savings and deduct fares instantly by tapping the card to readers on the platforms.

Passenger cars have three seating levels, work tables, electrical outlets and an on-board restroom. Each car can accommodate two bicycles and is fully accessible for persons with disabilities.

All the suburban stations have adjacent park-and-ride facilities, and platforms are equipped with cameras, emergency telephones, enclosed shelters, heating and other amenities.

On arrival at Target Field in Minneapolis customers can connect to the Hiawatha Light Rail line and to regional bus routes for rides to their final destinations.

In Minneapolis, Metro Transit created a new route – Route 20 – that will carry Northstar customers to work locations in southeast portion of downtown, operating on Ninth and Tenth streets, according to Gibbons.

At the north end of the Northstar line, St. Cloud Metro Bus has inaugurated NorthstarLink, providing commuter coach buses between St. Cloud and Big Lake Station, offering – for the first time – a daily transit options between St. Cloud and Minneapolis.

The $317 million Northstar rail project is owned by the Metropolitan Council and managed by Metro Transit, an operating division of the council.

Peter Bodley is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it