While the size and time of settlement of the United States means that it will always be more of a car and plane country than a train country, times are also changing in the direction of more options for those who love moving along the rails.
In Florida, the Brightline train line going between Orlando and Miami started service in September 2023 while the Amtrak has been working on new routes in the South, Midwest and Pacific Northwest — a long-running stereotype is that the country's national railway system is good only for a few nearby cities in the Northeast or a very long and expensive cross-country train one would take for the experience rather than transportation.
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Launching on May 21, Amtrak's new Borealis train is slated to cover the 400-mile route between St. Paul-Minneapolis and Chicago — while there is already one route between the two cities called the Hiawatha, Amtrak has been looking to expand with a second train since at least 2015.
This new Amtrak route has been in the works since 2015
The new route will depart from St. Paul-Minneapolis at noon and Chicago in the late morning. Other stops between the two end points include Winona in Minnesota, La Crosse and Milwaukee in Wisconsin and Glenview, Illinois as the final stop before Chicago. The stops between St. Paul and Milwaukee are also served by Amtrak's current Empire Builder long-haul route originating in Washington state.
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"Through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification Program we are working with grantees on dozens of other possible new Amtrak routes," Amtrak President Roger Harris said in a statement. "Thanks to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, interest from state transportation departments and others for new or expanded Amtrak service across the country is at an all-time high."
Riding the new Borealis route from end to end will take seven hours and 30 minutes. To promote the new train, Amtrak is offering customers a promotional fare of $41 one way while the tickets are already available to book on Amtrak's website.
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Minnesota residents to have 'more choices and travel flexibility,' commissioner says
Along with residents, many local authorities expressed excitement to have more train service in their region spanning that spans a large stretch of land.
"A second daily passenger rail service connecting St. Paul to Chicago via Milwaukee is a welcome addition to our transportation system, providing more choices and travel flexibility for passengers," Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger said in a statement.
Train enthusiasts and activists often argue that expanding service and making train travel more affordable will encourage people to take the more environmentally-friendly mode of transportation. At the end of 2023, Amtrak experimented with a different pricing model by offering tickets between nearby East Coast cities like New York and Philadelphia for as low as $5 as long as one if willing to travel very early in the morning or late at night.
Having proven popular, such new "Night Owl Fares" were later expanded to more stops alongside the Northeast Corridor — New York and Washington, D.C. as well as Philadelphia and Boston.
