Northern Lights Express is still moving through the federal pipeline

The Northern Lights Express is a proposed intercity passenger rail service located between Minneapolis and Duluth, and it has not been cancelled. MnDOT records that the Federal Railroad Administration accepted the corridor’s first planning step in March 2025, and the department now puts the capital cost at $592.3 million in 2026 dollars.

State money remains the weak point for Northern Lights Express

Funding is where the pressure sits. MnDOT logs the May 2025 raid at $77.232 million, and MinnPost reported in April 2026 that legislators kept targeting the remaining $123 million, including a bill to cancel it outright, while the state advanced the $1.1 billion Minnesota Aerospace Complex in Rosemount.

Project Overview

• Project Name: Northern Lights Express, also listed by MnDOT as the Twin Cities to Duluth and Superior Corridor
• Location: Target Field Station in Minneapolis to the Duluth depot, with a stop in Superior, Wisconsin
• Project Value: $592.3 million in fiscal 2026 dollars, per MnDOT’s current estimate, which restates 2017 capital costs with inflation
• Client or Owner: Minnesota Department of Transportation
• Key Components: Roughly 152 miles of existing BNSF Railway track, upgraded sidings and crossings, upgraded stations in Minneapolis and Duluth, and new stations at Coon Rapids, Cambridge, Hinckley and Superior
• Service Plan: Four daily round trips at speeds up to 90 mph, with a journey of about two and a half hours
• Ridership Forecast: 700,000 to 750,000 passengers in year one, rising toward one million after 20 years, per MnDOT
• Procurement Model: Publicly sponsored, funded up to 80 percent federal and 20 percent state, with Amtrak expected to operate the service
• Funding Status: The 2023 appropriation of $194.7 million was cut by $77.232 million in May 2025. MinnPost put the balance at $123 million in April 2026
• Federal Status: In the FRA Corridor Identification and Development Program, with step two covering the service development plan and step three covering preliminary engineering and environmental review
• Construction Start: Not scheduled. Final design and construction depend on Federal State Partnership grants MnDOT has yet to win

Project Team

• Project Sponsor: Minnesota Department of Transportation
• Federal Programme Authority: Federal Railroad Administration
• Track Owner: BNSF Railway
• Expected Operator: Amtrak
• Appropriating Authority: Minnesota Legislature
• Advocacy Body: Northern Lights Express Alliance
• Design and Construction Contractors: Not yet awarded

Reported 19th May 2025: The Northern Lights Express passenger rail project, a long-envisioned high-speed rail line between Minneapolis and Duluth, may have just hit a dead end.

In a dramatic turn over the weekend, lawmakers at the Minnesota State Capitol voted to pull a significant portion of the project’s funding. The move comes as the 2025 legislative session wrapped up, and the decision could signal the final chapter for a rail line that had been years in the making.

Both the Minnesota House and Senate voted to reallocate $77 million originally set aside for the NLX. Instead, the funds will now support unemployment insurance for seasonal education workers—a budget shift that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support: 131-0 in the House and 44-23 in the Senate.

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Not enough funding for NLX

That decision leaves the Northern Lights Express passenger rail project with just $108 million in state funding, which many believe isn’t enough to keep it on track. Republican Rep. Jon Koznick, chair of the House Transportation Committee, declared the project all but over.

“…the Northern Lights Express train is effectively dead, and taxpayers are better off because of it,” Koznick said in a statement.

The NLX was envisioned as a modern, faster alternative to driving along the I-35 corridor, offering four daily round-trips and stops in communities like Coon Rapids, Cambridge, and Hinckley. It was to run along approximately 152 miles of existing BNSF Railway tracks.

A long history for the project

A major milestone was reached in 2018 when the Federal Railroad Administration approved the project’s environmental review and service development plan. In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature allocated $194.7 million to serve as the required 20% local match for federal grants, which were expected to cover the remaining 80% of the costs.

Now, with a large chunk of that local match redirected and legislative support evaporating, the future of the Northern Lights Express passenger rail project is uncertain at best.

The measure is now headed to Governor Tim Walz’s desk. If he signs off, the once-promising rail connection between the Twin Cities and Duluth may officially reach the end of the line.