Saint Paul - St. Cloud – Fargo/Moorhead Daytime Service

All Aboard Minnesota believes the Saint Paul to Fargo/Moorhead corridor should be a top priority for new state supported passenger service in Minnesota. We propose a second daily train in both directions – a distance of 250 miles. We recommend this new train operate on a daytime schedule on the same class one track as the Empire Builder on the route through St. Cloud. With existing passenger train operations, we believe this route offers the highest ridership potential between the Twin Cities-Fargo, at the least cost. That track is owned by the Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF) railroad.

Currently, Amtrak’s Empire Builder serves this corridor in the middle of the night. Trains arrive at stations in St. Cloud, Staples, Detroit Lakes, and Fargo/Moorhead between 1 AM and 4 AM westbound and 3:30 AM and 6:30 AM eastbound. This is not convenient service – the EB timetable is driven by departure times on the west coast and Chicago. A new state-supported daytime train could have convenient departure and arrival times for Minnesota communities and could serve additional stations including Little Falls, Wadena, and Anoka.

All Aboard Minnesota estimates annual ridership of approximately 150,000 annually. In 2025, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) published a cursory corridor evaluation as part of the Northstar commuter rail deliberations. That study, on page 14, estimated annual ridership for the corridor at 110,000 to 450,000. The wide range assumes lower and higher frequencies and fewer or more stations. All Aboard Minnesota would advocate that one of the trip frequencies could be extended north to Grand Forks and Winnipeg in the future.

MnDOT’s 2026 Minnesota State Rail Plan acknowledges the immense potential of this route. The plan ranks it as Priority Level 2 - the only project in Level 2 that is not already an official Corridor ID grant recipient. (Appendix, page E-2).

Significant support along the corridor

All Aboard Minnesota has been informing and working with stakeholders along the corridor for many years. In 2026, All Aboard Minnesota worked with stakeholders on state legislation that directed MnDOT to submit a Corridor Identification Grant application to the Federal Railroad Administration to study this corridor in detail for state supported daytime service. House File 3176 and Senate File 2887 were ‘companion bills’ in the MN House of Representatives and the MN State Senate.

In 2026, 24 resolutions of support for this legislation were adopted by cities, chambers of commerce, visitor bureaus, and two county boards.

While a transportation bill was not passed in 2026, All Aboard Minnesota sees the legislative effort as a strong first step in elevating this corridor for a future Corridor ID study. Even without legislative direction, MnDOT could still submit a grant application for this corridor to the Federal Railroad Administration if/when a new funding round comes open.

Capital status and requirements

Since 2015, BNSF has invested a significant amount in infrastructure upgrades to improve freight rail capacity in the Saint Paul to Fargo/Moorhead corridor. Most of the corridor is double tracked and it is already equipped with Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) and Positive Traffic Control (PTC). Nevertheless, implementing additional passenger rail service on a daytime schedule would require: negotiating track usage with BNSF, potentially adding new track sidings, possible signal work, constructing or upgrading stations, and other improvements.