Borealis train increases travelers between Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois
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Since the start of the Amtrak service in May 2024, more than 416,000 passengers have used the Borealis line to travel through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.
The train service operates under contracts with transportation departments for the three states.
“We are so pleased the Borealis continues to operate at capacity, signaling the continued need for reliable, safe transportation options,” said Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger. “We look forward to continuing the positive partnerships with WisDOT, IDOT and Amtrak, to potentially grow and expand on this much-needed service.”
As passengers line up in Union Depot to board their train, some, like Sara and Ethan Kimmes, use the line for a relaxing trip. Earlier this month, the couple were heading to Chicago for an event and a long weekend away.
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“It’s both of our first time taking the train, so that’s going to be an experience for us,” Ethan said.
“It’s cheaper than flights, as well as the ease with not having to deal with the added airport stress. I’ve heard friends take Amtrak before to get to Chicago,” Sara Kimmes said. “It’s easier than the airport.”
“We’re both not super huge fans of long driving. It’s a lot of active attention and things like that.” Ethan added. “We thought the train would offer a more relaxing way to get where we wanted to go.”
Other passengers, like Henry Davis, utilize the Borealis for work travel. A retired worker for the Chicago Transit Authority since 2023, Davis moved to Savage, and was heading back to Chicago to help on a new project.
While he had small critiques that he’d like to see with boarding the train — like having elderly passengers have priority for boarding, and how quickly the train fills up — he prefers the Amtrak service compared to other options.
“Better than a Greyhound bus. The airports are ridiculous now. This is the best way to go right now,” Davis said.
Trains on the Borealis line originate from St. Paul or Chicago in the midday — St. Paul departs for Chicago a little after 11:30 a.m. each day, while Chicago departs for St. Paul around 11 a.m. That gives riders two daily departures between St. Paul and Chicago in conjunction with the Empire Builder, which travels between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest with stops in Seattle and Portland.
“I think all of us... partners from the three states,” Magliari said, “and everybody else who's looking at this, has really been impressed at how quickly people have taken to this service, and how far above its earlier projections were running great.”
Along with the recently added Hiawatha Service between Milwaukee and Chicago, the corridor ridership has seen an increase of 27 percent in two years, to nearly 1.8 million passengers.
“We'd have even more people on these trains if the trains themselves were any bigger, and we're working to make that happen,” Magliari said.
Amtrak and MnDOT officials both noted desires to increase the rider capacity by adding more passenger cars to the Borealis line.
“We haven't been in the state-sponsored passenger rail service for over 40 years, so Borealis is a good way to jump back in and see that immediate success,” said Matt Bailey, passenger rail director at MnDOT. “And it's proven very definitively there's demand there for that type of service.”
The success of the Borealis ridership has MnDOT studying the potential to provide more passenger rail options, like from St. Paul to Duluth.
“There's several corridors that are identified as something we'd like to explore further,” Bailey said. “And there's several that are actually already in planning stages along those lines.”
But as to when the rail service may expand, Bailey said there are too many factors at play to know when Amtrak and the three state transportation departments can expand capacity.
