End of the line for faltering Northstar Commuter Rail service could be in sight

It’s a rare occurrence when a House committee gathers to debate a bill, then is told during testimony that the bill’s wish has been granted.

Such was the case at Monday’s meeting of the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee. The committee’s chair, Rep. Jon Koznick (R-Lakeville), was presenting a pair of bills taking separate approaches to ending operations of the Northstar Commuter Rail line between downtown Minneapolis and Big Lake.

But, hours before the meeting convened, the Department of Transportation released a study that concluded: “There are opportunities for improved, more cost-effective transit service in this corridor.”

Both Transportation Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger and Metropolitan Council Chair Charlie Zelle said that other means of bus or rail transportation would be more efficient and effective, which rendered the bills largely moot.

HF269 calls for MnDOT and the Metropolitan Council to request approval from the Federal Transit Administration to discontinue Northstar Commuter Rail service without any federal reimbursement, also requiring legislative reporting on the request and federal response, as well as a termination plan if the approval is granted.

That bill was approved by the committee and is on its way to the House Floor.

Meanwhile, HF749 would set out performance conditions for the Northstar Commuter Rail line and require termination of the line if any of the conditions are not met. It was laid over for possible omnibus bill inclusion.

“We think terminating the service and providing bus service is the best alternative,” Zelle said. “We totally support the intention of [HF269]. We want to take the steps to ensure that course is possible and cost-effective, but yes, we are in favor of terminating service.”

“We’ve been working closely with the Met Council as we’ve worked on this report,” Daubenberger said. “We are with them on the move to exploring another transit service option.”

“Although Northstar performed much better before the pandemic, it wasn’t a stellar performance,” Zelle said. “Since the pandemic, ridership has dropped to approximately 16% of what it was in 2019. Even then, it shows very little growth over the past number of years.”

Zelle said the change may take some time, because Northstar was created from “a very complicated set of agreements.”

Rep. Erin Koegel (DFL-Spring Lake Park) suggested that the change would require $85 million to $90 million in loan forgiveness from the federal government. Zelle suggested that such numbers would be on “the high end.”

“We would need an act of Congress to get this loan forgiven,” Koegel said. “That doesn’t sound like a deal the Trump-Musk administration would take.”