NLX Would Benefit Even Minnesotans Who Refuse to Ride

Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared as two opinion pieces in the Duluth News-Tribune in spring 2025. Since then, the Minnesota Legislature has reduced funding for the Northern Lights Express (NLX) by some $77 million, and Republicans in Congress are threatening to cut off federal funds.

Amid the flurry of activity at the State Capitol in May as the 2025 Minnesota Legislature worked to balance the state budget, $77 million in funding for the Northern Lights Express was reallocated to cover unemployment insurance for hourly school workers that had been promised in the previous legislative session.

That $77 million had been allocated to buy new railway vehicles, passenger cars and locomotives. New railway vehicles are less expensive to maintain than older vehicles and, therefore, would cost taxpayers less.

Yes, we NLX enthusiasts were discouraged. But at the time, we were heartened by the news that enough state funding remained to cover the 20% for the 80% federal matching funds to start construction on the Minneapolis-to-Duluth train.

As this route map shows, potential station stops (depicted by solid dots) are in Coon Rapids, Cambridge, Hinckley and Superior (Wisconsin), before the NLX terminates in Duluth. The map also shows the Blue and Green Lines in the Twin Cities, providing further connections to MSP Airport and St. Paul via Minneapolis’ Target Field.

It all sounded so promising: for economic benefits to suburbs and smaller communities, for less traffic, for the positive impact on our warming climate. As of last week, however, “transit-hostile Republicans” in Congress introduced a measure that “would explicitly ban federal funding for the NLX line,” according to a July 16 article in the Minnesota Star Tribune.

This article, adapted from commentaries published last spring in the Duluth News-Tribune, argues for why I believe the NLX deserves to be funded. And quickly.

Trains are wonderful. … To travel by train is to see nature and human beings, towns and churches and rivers; in fact, to see life.

English detective writer Agatha Christie

A resident of my apartment building told me they don’t plan to ever ride the Northern Lights Express, or NLX, between the Twin Ports and Twin Cities. They object to building the passenger rail line because they plan to never use it.

Let’s consider that logic. It has been about 30 years since I last took an airplane flight out of Duluth via the Duluth International Airport. I ask then: Why should my tax dollars support air travel that I and many others won’t use? Because travel from the Duluth International Airport and on the NLX are public services. The more options the traveling public has, the better their travel experiences will be. Also, NLX will create a multitude of economic and environmental benefits that benefit Minnesotans, even if they don’t ride the train.

Two of my friends complained to me that the NLX’s expected travel times would be too long between Duluth and Minneapolis. In good weather, and on a Saturday, according to the website travel-math, it takes 2 hours, 18 minutes at anaverage driving speed of 66.6 mph.

However, I remember a dangerous driving experience years ago on Interstate 35 that I hope never to experience again. On a Thursday afternoon, five other University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD) Anime Club members and I traveled from Duluth to the Twin Cities to attend a Japanese animation convention. Our car drove into a late winter snowstorm while driving southbound on Interstate 35 near Scanlon. The farther we drove south, the heavier the snow and the stronger the winds became.

When a cargo truck passed our car, the visibility was reduced to a few feet. I counted at least seven cars and vans that had spun off the road. It took us more than five hours to get to our destination. Because our friend and UMD student driver didn’t want to risk getting stuck in a parking lot, we didn’t stop until we got to his parents’ home, where we stayed overnight.

NLX Isn’t Just for Long Trips

Similar to other ground-transportation routes, most NLX passengers will travel to and from stops within the route, instead of getting on one terminus stop and then riding to the other terminus stop at the other end of the line.

For example, many more riders will travel to and from Cambridge or Coon Rapids to Minneapolis and back than from Duluth to Minneapolis. However, that does not mean that Duluth and Superior residents and tourists are somehow less worthy for sustainable public transportation, than residents or tourists of Cambridge or Coon Rapids.

Other people tell me they would ride NLX between Duluth and Superior and back, a journey of 30 minutes,given that they dislike riding the city bus on the very tall John A. Blatnik Bridge. You may ask: Why does it take 30 minutes to travel the shortest distance between two NLX stations?

Ken Buehler, a longtime supporter of and advocate for the NLX (former chair of the now disbanded NLX Technical Advisory Committee), told me:

“It is approximately a half hour between Duluth and Superior by train over the Grassy Point Draw (a 5 miles-per-hour speed restriction). Also, without the former Minnesota and Wisconsin draws, the trip is several miles more than it was back in the day when the 1962 Gopher/Badger timetable had the time between Duluth/Superior as 15 minutes.

“So doing the math it would be two hours from Superior to Minneapolis. Perfect for a type A personality. The Superior mayor’s office is looking for a possible train station location.”

Our future NLX passenger service from Duluth to Minneapolis reminds me of an existing passenger service in Long Island in New York state. Because it takes a Long Island passenger train 3 hours and 20 minutes to travel from Montauk Station, the far eastern terminus, to Penn Station, the far western terminus, the majority of railroad passengers board or alight from the train in other stations closer to New York City’s Penn Station. However, the citizens of Montauk and the many tourists who visit Montauk deserve to have the many benefits of train travel as much as other citizens of Long Island.

The citizens of Long Island are asking for more trains, not fewer trains. These people know that without the Long Island Rail Road, their streets and roads would become even more congested, their air would be more polluted with toxic chemicals from vehicle exhausts and those without motor vehicles would have diminished freedom of travel.

Midnight Train to Georgia

English writer A.A. Milne, best known for his Winnie the Pooh books, once said, “Nowhere can I think so happily as in a train.”

For the Georgia Rail Passenger Program, the Georgia Department of Transportation has proposed a Georgia Commuter Rail Plan, a future commuter-rail network composed of seven lines. One of those, the Gainesville Line, would connect the Atlanta Five Points Station to the Gainesville Station, with Amtrak connections to New York Penn Station. The Gainesville Line would have a station at Duluth (the one in Georgia).

Imagine the embarrassment to Minnesotans if Duluth, Georgia, obtains a passenger-train service before our own Duluth does, after all the time, energy and expense we’ve spent planning for the Northern Lights Express.

The Amtrak Connects US vision to grow rail service across our country, which NLX is a part of, is a sensible national policy on passenger rail expansion. Future NLX passenger trains would result in less traffic on Minnesota Highway 10, Minnesota Highway 65 and Interstate 35 — and that would benefit even those who refuse to ride NLX.

By providing alternatives to driving, NLX trains would also reduce carbon emissions while creating more economic and social opportunities for Minnesota and Wisconsin residents. Of course, these supporting facts also apply to other future passenger train lines proposed in the Minnesota State Rail Plan.

The 2015 Minnesota State Rail Plan is great start at giving Minnesota and Wisconsin residents alternatives to driving.

Journey to Northern Ireland

This part of my story began when I asked myself: “How many passenger trains does a city in the United Kingdom have, one with a nearly equal population to Duluth?”

You don’t need the world’s fastest trains to provide your citizens with world-class service. For example, the existing Irish Derry-to-Belfast line is similar to Minnesota’s future Northern Lights Express. Derry is built on the banks of the Foyle River, a few miles south of the northern shore of Northern Ireland. Derry’s current population is 85,279, while Duluth’s population is 86,697.

The train is a small world moving through a larger world.

Elisha Cooper, American writer and children’s book author

The Derry-Londonderry railway station is the western terminal station of its line, while the Belfast Grand Central Station is its southeastern terminal station. In 2022, Belfast’s population was 348,005, while Minneapolis’s population was 429,954.

The Derry-Londonderry railway station has 16 weekday trains. Passenger trains on the Belfast-Derry line operate at a top speed of 90 mph, the same speed being planned for NLX. The Irish trains’ average travel time is 2 hours and 14 minutes on the 95-mile line. Most of this line is single track with a short section of double track on the eastern end. The Belfast-Derry line, with 12 station stops, is slower than the future Northern Lights Express will be, with its six station stops.

As a scenic line, the Belfast-Derry line travels through picturesque landscapes and tunnels with seaside views of the Atlantic Ocean. The Irish government has announced plans to double-track additional sections of this line while rebuilding existing tracks for higher speeds, making the line even more beneficial to riders.

The most important fact here is that, with many decades to build up ridership, the Derry-to-Belfast line carries about 4.5 million passengers each year. Consider that when someone tells you that nobody will ride a train in Minnesota that travels only 90 mph.
The existing Derry-to-Belfast service proves you don’t need the world’s fastest train to provide citizens with world-class service.

Put another way: I’ve seen many city and long-distance buses get stuck in traffic, but have yet to see a long-distance passenger train get stuck in traffic.

Equally important, in 2024, the Irish government built a new, four-lane divided highway east of Derry. At the same time, Belfast’s old, four-track Belfast Great Victoria Street railway and bus station were replaced by a new eight-track Belfast Grand Central rail and bus station. This proves governments can build good highways and good transit.

By the way, Belfast Grand Central station has:

M&S Simply Food, a smaller-format retail concept from full-sized Marks & Spencer food halls, offering a selection of groceries, ready meals and other food items.
BrewDog, a restaurant that serves alcoholic beverages.
Starbucks Kiosk Belfast Grand Central Station BL.

These three shops are incentives for riders to ride the train to and from Belfast. Riders don’t have to make additional journeys; when so many shopping options are already within a station they are going to walk through anyway.

Fun fact on Ireland’s railways: A draft report by the All-Island Strategic Rail Review included 30 recommendations and was estimated to cost between €35 billion (or $40.1 billion in USD) and €36.8 billion ($43 billion).

The restoration of a line from Derry to Portadown and on to Letterkenny in County Donegal would “link the large towns of Strabane, Omagh and Dungannon to the rail network” and “greatly improve intercity connectivity” from the north-west to Belfast and Dublin, the report found.

Governments in both Ireland and Northern Ireland are planning many new or upgraded passenger train lines, costing about $40 billion in U.S. currency. This includes planning for a second, southern Derry to Belfast line. Meanwhile, Minnesota citizens are having problems putting $108 million in state funding for building the first line between Minneapolis and Duluth. I would like to see Minnesota transportation planners be as ambitious as those in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

If you want Minnesota and Wisconsin citizens to have the same type of mobility service that connects the Irish people, communities and local economies — returning more money to the Irish people than it takes to build and maintain a rail line — then tell your elected representatives to continue supporting the proposed NLX service for a better Upper Midwest.

Originally published at on July 24, 2025.