Comment: Northstar Commuter Rail has an expensive track record – Alexandria Echo Press

By Senator Torrey Westrom, R-Alexandria

Friends and neighbors,

The Northstar Commuter Rail Line, which started in the company in 2009, runs between Big Lake and downtown Minneapolis. From the beginning I declined its construction and predicted that it would become another overpriced boondoggle that wasted taxpayers. A report recently confirmed by Minnesota Department of Transportation Report confirms my concerns, glows the continued decline in rail and the financial burden on taxpayers in Minnesota.

Northstar's driver has decreased increasingly since 2020. In 2017, the service was around 790,000 drivers. However, the driver had collected at around 150,000 by 2020, and fewer than 100,000 drivers used the service by 2024. This steady decline underlines the lack of demand for the railway line and makes it clear that it is not a sustainable transport option.

Since the operation of the operations in the operation of the Northstar line in 2009, the total cost of over 400 million US dollars has exceeded. In order to put this in the right light, we could have rented luxury vehicles for frequent drivers instead. The enormous amount of money that was poured into this project could have been used much better. Instead, taxpayers consider the invoice to be a service that serves so few and costs so much.

In 2023, the ticket revenue included less than 3% of the operating costs of the rail, so that taxpayers absorb the remaining $ 11 million. In addition to its financial failure, the rail system is rigid and cannot adapt to the shift of commuter patterns, which is not suitable for a modern, flexible transit network. A good road system, combined with a dynamic bus network that offers more adaptability and efficiency, would be a much more practical solution. It is estimated that a dynamic bus service in this area would only cost around 2 million US dollars a year.

In our state with a deficit of 5.1 billion US dollars, the reduction of wasteful programs must have top priority. The removal of the Northstar line is an essential step to reduce wasteful expenditure and ensure that tax money is issued.

The Northstar Commuter Rail Line, of which I have long said that she was only a glorified trolley, has long survived its usefulness. In view of the fact that taxpayers are such lackluster drivers and extreme costs for taxpayers, it is time to see that this project is a “loser” and has failed. The state has to prioritize intelligent, inexpensive transit solutions that meet the needs of all Minnesotans and set wasteful programs such as the Northstar line.

I think it should be the end of the line for the Northstar.