ALL:
Today's Star Tribune has a lengthy article on North Star. Things do not look good. The present Anoka County, Minnesota Board of Commissioners is anti-transit and does not like North Star. The pandemic hit North Star very hard. Before Covid, four parking lots (at North Star Stations) were full. People took North Star to Twins and Vikings games.
The Metropolitan Council (Twin Cities) has invested millions in equipment, facilities and stations and will make very hard decisions.
North Star should have started in St. Cloud instead of Big Lake, MN.
The Twin Cities are not like Chicago population wise and Metro is adding trains.
Ed Burns
With Union cooperation, operational labor expense could be reduced sharply. Here's the minimum investment plan:
Time seperation between freight operations and passenger operations. Possiblky passenger 6 -11 AM 4 - 10 PM; freight other times with special arrangements possible for ball-games, etc.
Passenger operations coverted to diesel light rail with one-man operators.
Ticket machines at all stations, operator inspects validated tisket and monthyly pass as passenger enters via left-front-door. (operator controls are on the right.) Downtown excepted where validated ticket or monthly pass required for access to platform, and both doors used
Equipment all rebuilt original RDC fro.m Moncton (Canada) or Brookfielf (PA) with traps converted to elevator lifts for handicapped as on MUNI light rail cars. or short high platforms and ramps at suburban stations and one long high platform dowentown.
I beklieve Moncton Equipment as few original RDCs in fit-for-rebuilding condition.
Does this make sense?
daveklepper With Union cooperation, operational labor expense could be reduced sharply. Here's the minimum investment plan: Time seperation between freight operations and passenger operations. Possiblky passenger 6 -11 AM 4 - 10 PM; freight other times with special arrangements possible for ball-games, etc. Passenger operations coverted to diesel light rail with one-man operators. Ticket machines at all stations, operator inspects validated tisket and monthyly pass as passenger enters via left-front-door. (operator controls are on the right.) Downtown excepted where validated ticket or monthly pass required for access to platform, and both doors used Equipment all rebuilt original RDC fro.m Moncton (Canada) or Brookfielf (PA) with traps converted to elevator lifts for handicapped as on MUNI light rail cars. or short high platforms and ramps at suburban stations and one long high platform dowentown. I beklieve Moncton Equipment as few original RDCs in fit-for-rebuilding condition. Does this make sense?
Makes no sense at all.
Northstar is operating on BNSF main lines, probably under a purchase of servcie contract. With that you get BNSF unions.
Time separation is out of the question. The lines are crucial to BNSF. They will not put themselves out of business for Northstar.
I could go on but will not.
If politicians realize Northstar was a bad idea and it goes away, no big loss, and probably a benefit to BNSF.
Mac
What about the long talked about and proposed Twin Cities - Duluth service via Amtrak. Is that going anywhere now that your getting a second Chicago to Twin Cities train in the next two years?
Setting aside all the rest of that, Industrial Rail Services of Moncton, NB went bankrupt about a decade ago. Most of their stored RDCs ended up being scrapped.
One of their former employees is now a conductor out here. He described IRSI as "a RDC chop shop".
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
I withdraw my suggestion. Not practical in this case. Thank you.
North Star is a complicated situation. Anoka County, MN does not want to pay their share of North Star, even though Hennepin and Sherburn counties also pay for North Star service. If North Star shuts down the Metropolitan Coucil may have the pay the Federal Government transit money. Then there is the problem of what to do with the equipment and maintance facility.
All North Star station have ticket vending machines. Presently are two round trips a day, two down (morning) and two up (afternoon). Three crews are assigned to North Star with the third crew as a relief (lay off or vacation).
This is a complicated issue. In short, North Star should have started in St. Cloud not Becker.
The BNSF was paid a boat load of money to improve their trackage and signals on both the Wayzata and Staples subdivisions.
P. S. Most of you know I am retired BNSF and I am speaking as a railfan and taxpayer.
NP Eddie... The BNSF was paid a boat load of money to improve their trackage and signals on both the Wayzata and Staples subdivisions. Ed Burns P. S. Most of you know I am retired BNSF and I am speaking as a railfan and taxpayer.
Did BNSF make the improvements they were paid for?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
NP Eddie If North Star shuts down the Metropolitan Coucil may have the pay the Federal Government transit money.
According to the NewsWire story its $85 million. Wouldn't Anoka County have to pay that back since it is the cause of the shut down, or at least its share.
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/minnesota-county-disputes-funding-for-northstar-commuter-rail/
Yes. This includes work in Minneapolis by the Minnesota Twins baseball stadium. Also work in Ramsey, MN and Big Lake, MN. Don't forget all the flagmen that protected the tracks while contractors were working near the tracks..
Ed
MidlandMike NP Eddie If North Star shuts down the Metropolitan Coucil may have the pay the Federal Government transit money. According to the NewsWire story its $85 million. Wouldn't Anoka County have to pay that back since it is the cause of the shut down, or at least its share. https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/minnesota-county-disputes-funding-for-northstar-commuter-rail/
Good reputation building - Anoka the county that is a fraud. More properly the county that wants something for nothing.
"ridership dropped by 95%"
"which through August had carried just 26,374 riders this year"
Sounds more like no one wants or uses it.
Put a pistol to its head and put it out of its misery. All you are doing now is throwing good money after bad. What's been spent up to now is immaterial - nothing you can do can get that money back. All you are doing now is going further in the hole. Time to literally cut your losses. Sell the equipment to a viable transit operation and use busses if there is any sort of demand for public transit
BEAUSABRETime to literally cut your losses.
If they cut the train, their losses will only accelerate. Then the system will owe $85 million to the feds.
Less than 100 riders per day? Possibly less than 50 if each trip is counted as one rider! Must set a record for low use of a rail transit option.
When i go to nmy apartment in the evening, it's Arab 255 or 275 bus, light rail, Egged bus. The Arab bus has anywhere from three of us riders to twenty, light rail anywhere between 100 and 250, Egged bus on the last lap usually four or five.
But if I stay late at the Yeshiva, the last Arab bus is about 10pm, so I'm lucky that there is one Egged bus that comes reasoably close to the Yeshiva, a stop by the "Mormon University." a branch of Brigham Young U., at 11:30pm. Usually, when I use it, I'm the only rider. Meaning, most of the time it must run empty! I'm sure glad it's there when I need it.
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