Amtrak logged more than 18-thousand-500 riders during the first full month of new daily train service between Saint Paul and Chicago (“Borealis”), averaging about 300 passengers aboard each of the eastbound and westbound trains. The service has state support from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Amtrak’s Marc Magliari says, “The states and Amtrak knew that this was going to be a route that had lots of opportunity on it, and people are taking the opportunity to the tune of 18-thousand-500 and more last month, to ride these Amtrak trains.” Plans are moving forward to resume passenger train service between Minneapolis and Duluth-Superior. In May 2023, the legislature approved nearly 195 million dollars to match expected federal funding for the Northern Lights
Express. There’s also talk about adding passenger rail service between the Twin Cities and Fargo-Moorhead.