Hiawatha Line
Encyclopedia
The Hiawatha Line is a 12.3 mi (19.8 km) light rail
corridor in Hennepin County, Minnesota
that extends from downtown
Minneapolis to the southern suburb of Bloomington
. It was formerly known as the Hiawatha Line named after Hiawatha Avenue. Major connections on the line include the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the Mall of America
, the Metrodome
and Target Field
in downtown Minneapolis.
Blue Line is operated by Metro Transit
, which is also the primary operator of buses in the Twin Cities. The line accounts for about 12% of Metro Transit's total ridership. Less than two years after opening, the line had already exceeded its 2020 weekday ridership goal of 24,800. The line carried 10.2 million riders in 2008, a year marked by unusually high fuel prices, reaching 35,500 daily boardings in the third quarter.
, along with two under-construction BRT lines, the Orange Line (35W BRT) and the Red Line (Cedar Avenue BRT).
, Spanish
, Somali
, and Hmong
. Travel time is roughly two minutes between most stations.
The airport used to operate a bus shuttle between the two terminals, but the light-rail line has supplanted that service. No fare is required to ride between the two airport stations.
, the Minnesota Twins'
new ballpark. The two-level station has light rail platforms on the upper level for use by Hiawatha and Central Corridor light rail trains, and platforms next to the BNSF
mainline tracks passing beneath the station to serve the Northstar Commuter Rail line.
In addition, some routing options for the future Green Line southwest extension
LRT line would connect directly to the end of the Blue Line to share service with the station.
in Bloomington between the Humphrey Terminal Station and Bloomington Central Station. This station was included in the line's original plans, but was supplanted by the decision to have a station directly at the Mall of America
. Because much of the necessary underground infrastructure for the station was installed when the line was constructed, the station was built without interrupting regular service. The station opened December 12, 2009.
Passengers who ride the rail system are ordinarily charged the same fare
as they would pay for the local Metro Transit bus system, and they are able to use their bus transfer cards to switch between the two different modes of transportation without making another payment. A new payment system using smart card
s (known as Go-To Card
s) was initially expected to be introduced along with the rail line in June 2004, but software bugs delayed introduction. As of September 2006, the bugs have been worked out and the Go-To Cards are now operational.
In basic service, trains operate every 10 minutes, though rush hour
sees one train every 7½ minutes, and late-night operation once every half hour. The line shuts down for about four hours each night, except for a shuttle service between the two terminals at the MSP airport. Vehicles have a capacity of 66 seated passengers and 120 standing. Currently two or three vehicles are linked together to increase capacity. Predicted daily ridership was 19,300 for 2005 and 24,600 for 2020.
The line is named for Hiawatha Avenue, also known as Minnesota State Highway 55
, which runs parallel to the train tracks for much of its distance. The line also runs for a few miles on the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Short Line
roadbed which brought Hiawatha
passenger trains into their downtown depot
. To integrate the light rail route with the rest of the area bus system, it was also given the name Route 55. In extremely heavy travel periods and when the rail line is out of service for any reason, buses use that route number. Before the second phase had been completed, a temporary bus line known as Route 155 provided a link to some destinations south of the Fort Snelling station.
Significant effort has gone into creating art
work for the different rail stations. In the months after the line first started, a number of small audio and video playback devices were installed in the stations, to provide amusement and topics for discussion among travelers waiting for the train.
There are two stretches where tunnel
s are used on the line. A short tunnel parallel to Hiawatha Avenue travels under Minnehaha Parkway just north of the 50th Street station. At the airport, twin tunnels (one each for the northbound and southbound trains) go underground for 1.7 miles (2.7 km) to reach the Lindbergh Terminal station, the only stop that is totally underground—70 feet (21.3 m) below the surface. Trains return to the surface as they near Humphrey Terminal. Some of the sections under the airport required the use of a tunnel boring machine
.
Currently, the Hiawatha Line uses 27 Flexity Swift
trams manufactured by Bombardier
, electrically
powered by overhead lines
. The system is designed to output 750 volt
s of direct current
. Trains can reach speed
s of 55 miles per hour (24.6 m/s), but the “general service speed” is about 40 mph (17.9 m/s) or slower (especially in the congested downtown region). They are of a 70% low-floor design, meaning that 70 percent of the floor inside is within about 14 inches (355.6 mm) of the ground. This is the same height as the rail platforms, allowing stepless access for passengers dependent on wheelchair
s or other mobility aids. The feature also makes it easier for passengers with bicycle
s or stroller
s to board the train. Each vehicle weighs about 107000 pounds (48,534.4 kg) when empty. The Minneapolis installation is the first use of this model in the United States
.
Vehicles have a color scheme
that is primarily a combination of black
, yellow
, and gray. Yellow is a notable color because it was commonly used on the previous streetcar systems in the area. Each vehicle has an A, B, and C section: The A and B sections are the large portions on each end, while the C section is a small portion that connects the two other pieces and has the vehicle's middle truck or bogie
. Electricity is collected by a pantograph
mounted on the B section. The first vehicle was delivered on March 19, 2003. 14 of 15 delivered vehicles were operational for the opening weekend. The initial order was eventually bumped up to a full 24 vehicles, which were operational by early 2005. Three additional vehicles were ordered in the winter of 2006/2007, using leftover funds from the construction budget for one vehicle and Hennepin County funds for the other two. This completes the first generation of rolling stock at a total of 27 vehicles on the line.
The noses of these vehicles are built to a different design than is standard for the Flexity Swift, containing a small scoop-shaped area. This could assist somewhat in the removal of snow
, but the anticipated snow-management method is merely to run trains on a frequent basis rather than actually using snow removal equipment (this was what the earlier streetcar system usually did to keep lines clear, though they also often featured small scrapers in front of the lead wheels).
Each vehicle has a number of camera
s onboard, pointing both inward and outward, to monitor passenger activity and other areas of interest for security
and safety
. Train stations also have cameras. Video feeds and the position of each vehicle on the line are monitored in a control room at the system's maintenance facility, located between Cedar-Riverside and Franklin Avenue stations.
According to Metropolitan Council meeting notes dated July 30, 2010 for the August 9 Transportation Committee meeting, Siemens Industry Incorporated
is expected to build the Light Rail Vehicles for the three-car train expansion project in a joint procurement with the Green Line's
initial LRV procurement, at a per-LRV cost of $3,297,714 and a total contract value of $153,211,516. According to Mark Fuhrmann's presentation at the July 26, 2010 Transportation Committee meeting, these "Type II" LRVs will be mechanically, but not electronically, compatible with the current fleet of 27 "type I" vehicles, so while the two generations will be able to run on the tracks at the same time and either type would be able to push a malfunctioning unit of the other type, multiple-unit trains may only be assembled of one type.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul area once had an extensive network of streetcars (operated for many years by Twin City Rapid Transit
, a precursor of Metro Transit), but the tracks were removed and services were eliminated in the 1950s.
Over the years since the last trolley ran in 1954, many people have pushed for the reintroduction of rail transport in the Twin Cities. The primary reason is that traffic congestion
has grown considerably since the streetcar system ceased operation: a 2003 report by the Texas Transportation Institute
indicated that the area was the 17th most congested area in the country, with the second fastest congestion growth. Congestion is also one of the most prominent complaints of area residents. The area's population is expected to grow by about one million residents by 2020, adding to the population of 3.2 million as of the 2010 census (Which means that in less than 10 years the area could have a population of more than 4 million similar in size to the metropolitan area of Phoenix, AZ or Detroit, MI.) While the Hiawatha Line is not expected to make a significant dent in the region overall, proponents hope that the line's popularity will ensure future expansion will happen (in the first full month of service, ridership exceeded projections by 99.8%, although transit officials were wary about drawing too many conclusions so early on in the line's life).
No new rail projects were able to get off the ground for many years until the 1990s when several factors combined to make the idea more palatable to area politicians. Governor Jesse Ventura
and Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg
heavily promoted the idea of rail transport, and significant amounts of money became available from the federal government. Previous governors had advocated light rail, but had not been able to get legislation passed. Governor Tim Pawlenty
had campaigned on a promise to fight the expansion of light rail, but has altered his opinions since taking office. He also initially opposed the proposed Northstar Corridor
commuter rail project, which would be a rail corridor north of Minneapolis, but changed his mind about that project in January 2004 when a scaled-back version was shown to have good potential.
For many, the Hiawatha Avenue corridor was not the top choice for a new project. Popular other options included connecting Minneapolis with western suburbs, though probably the most-desired option has been the Green Line
connecting the Twin Cities themselves (Minneapolis and St. Paul
) with a route down the middle of Interstate 94
or University Avenue. However, much of the land had already been acquired by the state in the 1960s in preparation for a sunken radial expressway into downtown that was never built. In addition to the available land, the desire to connect to the airport and at least reach the vicinity of the Mall of America proved to be the bigger draw for decision-makers.
The idea of running a rail line down Hiawatha Avenue had already been around for at least a decade by the time the decision was made to go forward. In 1985, the Minnesota Department of Transportation
(Mn/DOT) had produced an environmental impact statement
that concluded that light rail was the best alternative for the corridor. In 1996, the document was examined again as Mn/DOT looked at the possibility of adding a busway (bus rapid transit
) along the road, but money for light rail became available soon after, leading to the current layout.
Groundbreaking
for the line took place on January 17, 2001. Regular service began on the first phase of the line on June 26, 2004, with the second phase opening later that year on December 4. Each opening was accompanied with two days of free rides on the train and area bus
es. The line was tested
for months before opening, with regular service simulated for about a month before each phase went online. The Hiawatha Line opened 50 years and one week after the last regular-service streetcars ran in the city.
Busways are still being examined for many future projects, and it appears likely that at least one will be built. The most likely candidate for the area's second light rail line is the Central Corridor Line
connecting downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul; on April 26, 2011, the U.S. government announced $478 million in funding for its construction.
The line's cost is expected to total $
715 million, with $424 million coming from the federal government. This is considerably higher than initial budget
s predicted—the figure was about $400 million in 1997. Opponents to the rail line state that it went far over-budget, but supporters of the line state that extensions of the route and other alterations, plus the impact of inflation
, are the real reasons for the increased cost. Initial designs cut out the last stop in downtown, and the southern end of the line did not quite connect to the Mall of America. The Warehouse District stop was added early but another cost increase came from approximately $40 million to enhance the line (while construction was in progress) to bring the line directly into the Mall of America's transit hub. It was completed a year or two later than what was initially hoped for (a lot of literature pointed to 2003 as the opening year), but the mall connection was a significant contribution to the extra time requirements. These extensions are also why the line was initially reported to be 11.6 miles long, but ended up being 12 miles in length. The Target Field extension in 2009 added a few more tenths to the length.
In March 2004, the labor union representing Metro Transit bus workers went on strike. This delayed the opening of the line from the anticipated start date of April 3, although there was some indication that the opening would have been delayed anyway. Apparently, some of the delay had to do with slow delivery of trainsets from Bombardier. Certain aspects of the design had been tried before, but the cars were the first to combine the factors of conforming to American standards (as opposed to Europe
an), having low floors, and being built at the company's Mexico
plant. Some problems also cropped up during testing of the vehicles, but Bombardier has said that the issues are not out of the ordinary.
When the buses began rolling again on April 19, the line's opening was rolled back to June 26. Testing of the track and vehicles continued during the bus strike, as much of the work was performed by Bombardier employees rather than Metro Transit workers. Train operators who had already gone through the training process were given refresher courses when the strike ended.
s red. Synchronization of the different signals has been very problematic, reportedly causing some people to be stuck waiting at intersections for ten to fifteen minutes when the train was in its testing phase. Engineers from Metro Transit, the city of Minneapolis, and Mn/DOT have worked to get their respective systems communicating with each other, but delays are still common in the area.
Around the time of the line's opening, the Minneapolis City Council
requested additional assistance from the Federal Highway Administration
to resolve the issue, and the agency promised to send experienced engineers when they become available. However, it appears that improvements would require significant changes to the signal layout.
Delay issues are partially due to an unusual problem: the train horns. Residents along the rail corridor had complained that the horns were too loud, so transit officials decided to reduce the volume. However, this forced a reduction in service speed, as the quieter sound could not be heard at as great a distance. Some sections that were going to be limited to 55 mph were instead limited to 45 mph. Crossing gates and signals along the line are set to go off when the train is at a certain distance from the intersection, so the slower speed meant that the trains would trigger the gates prematurely.
In February 2005, the signals were upgraded at a cost of between $300,000 and $400,000 to improve traffic flow (the money came from leftover contingency funds in the system's construction budget). Changes involved moving the crossing trigger points closer to intersections, reprogramming the gates themselves to operate more quickly, altering the timings used when trains are at stations next to gated crossings, and altering the behavior of pedestrian crosswalks along the corridor. This is all expected to improve wait times on nearby roadways by 20 to 40 seconds.
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
corridor in Hennepin County, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
that extends from downtown
Downtown
Downtown is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's core or central business district ....
Minneapolis to the southern suburb of Bloomington
Bloomington, Minnesota
Bloomington is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota in Hennepin County. Located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, Bloomington lies at the heart of the southern...
. It was formerly known as the Hiawatha Line named after Hiawatha Avenue. Major connections on the line include the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the Mall of America
Mall of America
The Mall of America, also called MOA and the Megamall, is a shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities, in the United States. It is located southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River and is across the...
, the Metrodome
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, commonly called the Metrodome, is a domed sports stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Opened in 1982, it replaced Metropolitan Stadium, which was on the current site of the Mall of America in Bloomington and Memorial Stadium on the University...
and Target Field
Target Field
Target Field is a baseball park located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the home ballpark of the Minnesota Twins, the city's Major League Baseball franchise. It is the franchise's sixth ballpark and third in Minnesota. The Twins moved to Target Field for the 2010 Major League Baseball...
in downtown Minneapolis.
Blue Line is operated by Metro Transit
Metro Transit (Minnesota)
Metro Transit is the transit division of the Metropolitan Council, a regional governmental agency in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Metro Transit is the largest operator of bus services in the seven-county region surrounding Minneapolis and St...
, which is also the primary operator of buses in the Twin Cities. The line accounts for about 12% of Metro Transit's total ridership. Less than two years after opening, the line had already exceeded its 2020 weekday ridership goal of 24,800. The line carried 10.2 million riders in 2008, a year marked by unusually high fuel prices, reaching 35,500 daily boardings in the third quarter.
Line color
In July 2011, the Metropolitan Council officially approved renaming the Hiawatha Line as the Blue Line. This will be part of a broader color scheme for identifying Twin Cities transit lines, including the under-construction LRT line to St. Paul-the Green LineCentral Corridor (Minnesota)
The Central Corridor is a light rail line under construction that is to cover the stretch between the downtown regions of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota...
, along with two under-construction BRT lines, the Orange Line (35W BRT) and the Red Line (Cedar Avenue BRT).
Stations and expansions
Each of the 19 stations along the route is designed in a unique architectural style reflective of the station's surrounding community. This is not an entirely new idea for the region, as many of the higher-traffic bus stops around the city have distinctive designs. Due to the unique makeup of Minneapolis's population, ticket-dispensing machines present instructions in four languages: EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Somali
Somali language
The Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....
, and Hmong
Hmong language
Hmong or Mong is the common name for a dialect continuum of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmong–Mien/Miao–Yao language family spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos...
. Travel time is roughly two minutes between most stations.
The airport used to operate a bus shuttle between the two terminals, but the light-rail line has supplanted that service. No fare is required to ride between the two airport stations.
Construction of Target Field Station
In November 2008, track welding was completed to extend the line several blocks northwest to reach the site of the Target Field Station. The station opened on November 14, 2009, and is adjacent to Target FieldTarget Field
Target Field is a baseball park located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the home ballpark of the Minnesota Twins, the city's Major League Baseball franchise. It is the franchise's sixth ballpark and third in Minnesota. The Twins moved to Target Field for the 2010 Major League Baseball...
, the Minnesota Twins'
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
new ballpark. The two-level station has light rail platforms on the upper level for use by Hiawatha and Central Corridor light rail trains, and platforms next to the BNSF
BNSF Railway
The BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...
mainline tracks passing beneath the station to serve the Northstar Commuter Rail line.
In addition, some routing options for the future Green Line southwest extension
Southwest Corridor (Minneapolis)
The Southwest Corridor is currently scheduled to become the third light rail transit corridor in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, with service between Minneapolis and Eden Prairie, Minnesota, going through Hopkins and Minnetonka along the way...
LRT line would connect directly to the end of the Blue Line to share service with the station.
New station constructed in Bloomington
Federal money was secured for construction of the new American Boulevard StationAmerican Boulevard (Metro Transit station)
American Boulevard is a light rail station in Bloomington, Minnesota at the intersection of 34th Avenue South and American Boulevard, just south of Interstate 494. It is the sixteenth stop southbound on the Hiawatha Line from Minneapolis...
in Bloomington between the Humphrey Terminal Station and Bloomington Central Station. This station was included in the line's original plans, but was supplanted by the decision to have a station directly at the Mall of America
Mall of America
The Mall of America, also called MOA and the Megamall, is a shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities, in the United States. It is located southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River and is across the...
. Because much of the necessary underground infrastructure for the station was installed when the line was constructed, the station was built without interrupting regular service. The station opened December 12, 2009.
2009 expansion of existing stations
During the summer of 2009, work began on lengthening the station platforms. This permitted the use of three-car trains, instead of the two-car trains that were the previous maximum. This allowed the line to meet the continually growing demand without adding additional trains to the schedule or adding more drivers. The expansions were completed in 2010.Service
Blue Line Light Rail staff, security, and volunteers produced a largely hitch-free opening day for the new rail system on June 26, 2004. Officials estimated 30,000 people boarded the electric-powered trains during the transit system's first day of service. Train rides were free. Each station featured live entertainment and food as a diversion for the long waits to board the trains.Passengers who ride the rail system are ordinarily charged the same fare
Fare
A fare is the fee paid by a passenger allowing him or her to make use of a public transport system: rail, bus, taxi, etc. In the case of air transport, the term airfare is often used.-Uses:...
as they would pay for the local Metro Transit bus system, and they are able to use their bus transfer cards to switch between the two different modes of transportation without making another payment. A new payment system using smart card
Smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...
s (known as Go-To Card
Go-To card
The Go-To card is a contactless smart card used to pay fares for bus, light rail, and commuter rail lines operated by Metro Transit and other transit agencies in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota...
s) was initially expected to be introduced along with the rail line in June 2004, but software bugs delayed introduction. As of September 2006, the bugs have been worked out and the Go-To Cards are now operational.
Rush hour
A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening, the times during when the most people commute...
sees one train every 7½ minutes, and late-night operation once every half hour. The line shuts down for about four hours each night, except for a shuttle service between the two terminals at the MSP airport. Vehicles have a capacity of 66 seated passengers and 120 standing. Currently two or three vehicles are linked together to increase capacity. Predicted daily ridership was 19,300 for 2005 and 24,600 for 2020.
The line is named for Hiawatha Avenue, also known as Minnesota State Highway 55
Minnesota State Highway 55
Minnesota State Highway 55 is a highway in west-central, central, and east-central Minnesota, which runs from the North Dakota state line near Tenney and continues east and southeast to its eastern terminus at its intersection with U.S...
, which runs parallel to the train tracks for much of its distance. The line also runs for a few miles on the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Short Line
Short Line Bridge
The Short Line Bridge is a truss bridge that spans the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was originally built in the 1880s and upgraded a few years later by Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and was designed by American Bridge Company.The bridge is entirely within...
roadbed which brought Hiawatha
Hiawatha (passenger train)
The Hiawathas were named passenger trains operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad , and traveled from Chicago to the Twin Cities in Minnesota. The original train takes its name from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...
passenger trains into their downtown depot
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot Freight House and Train Shed
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot Freight House and Train Shed , now officially named The Depot, is a historic railroad depot in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St...
. To integrate the light rail route with the rest of the area bus system, it was also given the name Route 55. In extremely heavy travel periods and when the rail line is out of service for any reason, buses use that route number. Before the second phase had been completed, a temporary bus line known as Route 155 provided a link to some destinations south of the Fort Snelling station.
Significant effort has gone into creating art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
work for the different rail stations. In the months after the line first started, a number of small audio and video playback devices were installed in the stations, to provide amusement and topics for discussion among travelers waiting for the train.
There are two stretches where tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
s are used on the line. A short tunnel parallel to Hiawatha Avenue travels under Minnehaha Parkway just north of the 50th Street station. At the airport, twin tunnels (one each for the northbound and southbound trains) go underground for 1.7 miles (2.7 km) to reach the Lindbergh Terminal station, the only stop that is totally underground—70 feet (21.3 m) below the surface. Trains return to the surface as they near Humphrey Terminal. Some of the sections under the airport required the use of a tunnel boring machine
Tunnel boring machine
A tunnel boring machine also known as a "mole", is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They can bore through anything from hard rock to sand. Tunnel diameters can range from a metre to almost 16 metres to date...
.
Vehicles
Flexity Swift
The Flexity Swift tram is a family of urban and inter-urban light-rail vehicles manufactured by Bombardier Transportation for a wide number of customers across Europe...
trams manufactured by Bombardier
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Canadian firm, Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Transportation is one of the world's largest companies in the rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany....
, electrically
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
powered by overhead lines
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
. The system is designed to output 750 volt
Volt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
s of direct current
Direct current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
. Trains can reach speed
Speed
In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as...
s of 55 miles per hour (24.6 m/s), but the “general service speed” is about 40 mph (17.9 m/s) or slower (especially in the congested downtown region). They are of a 70% low-floor design, meaning that 70 percent of the floor inside is within about 14 inches (355.6 mm) of the ground. This is the same height as the rail platforms, allowing stepless access for passengers dependent on wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
s or other mobility aids. The feature also makes it easier for passengers with bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
s or stroller
Stroller
Stroller may refer to:*A form of baby transport*Stroller , men's daytime semiformal wear*Stroller , showjumping champion...
s to board the train. Each vehicle weighs about 107000 pounds (48,534.4 kg) when empty. The Minneapolis installation is the first use of this model in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Vehicles have a color scheme
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
that is primarily a combination of black
Black
Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...
, yellow
Yellow
Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...
, and gray. Yellow is a notable color because it was commonly used on the previous streetcar systems in the area. Each vehicle has an A, B, and C section: The A and B sections are the large portions on each end, while the C section is a small portion that connects the two other pieces and has the vehicle's middle truck or bogie
Bogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
. Electricity is collected by a pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
mounted on the B section. The first vehicle was delivered on March 19, 2003. 14 of 15 delivered vehicles were operational for the opening weekend. The initial order was eventually bumped up to a full 24 vehicles, which were operational by early 2005. Three additional vehicles were ordered in the winter of 2006/2007, using leftover funds from the construction budget for one vehicle and Hennepin County funds for the other two. This completes the first generation of rolling stock at a total of 27 vehicles on the line.
The noses of these vehicles are built to a different design than is standard for the Flexity Swift, containing a small scoop-shaped area. This could assist somewhat in the removal of snow
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...
, but the anticipated snow-management method is merely to run trains on a frequent basis rather than actually using snow removal equipment (this was what the earlier streetcar system usually did to keep lines clear, though they also often featured small scrapers in front of the lead wheels).
Each vehicle has a number of camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
s onboard, pointing both inward and outward, to monitor passenger activity and other areas of interest for security
Security
Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...
and safety
Safety
Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...
. Train stations also have cameras. Video feeds and the position of each vehicle on the line are monitored in a control room at the system's maintenance facility, located between Cedar-Riverside and Franklin Avenue stations.
According to Metropolitan Council meeting notes dated July 30, 2010 for the August 9 Transportation Committee meeting, Siemens Industry Incorporated
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
is expected to build the Light Rail Vehicles for the three-car train expansion project in a joint procurement with the Green Line's
Central Corridor (Minnesota)
The Central Corridor is a light rail line under construction that is to cover the stretch between the downtown regions of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota...
initial LRV procurement, at a per-LRV cost of $3,297,714 and a total contract value of $153,211,516. According to Mark Fuhrmann's presentation at the July 26, 2010 Transportation Committee meeting, these "Type II" LRVs will be mechanically, but not electronically, compatible with the current fleet of 27 "type I" vehicles, so while the two generations will be able to run on the tracks at the same time and either type would be able to push a malfunctioning unit of the other type, multiple-unit trains may only be assembled of one type.
History
Twin City Rapid Transit
The Twin City Rapid Transit Company , also known as Twin City Lines , was a transportation company that operated streetcars, and buses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Minnesota...
, a precursor of Metro Transit), but the tracks were removed and services were eliminated in the 1950s.
Over the years since the last trolley ran in 1954, many people have pushed for the reintroduction of rail transport in the Twin Cities. The primary reason is that traffic congestion
Traffic congestion
Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough that the interaction...
has grown considerably since the streetcar system ceased operation: a 2003 report by the Texas Transportation Institute
Texas Transportation Institute
The Texas Transportation Institute in College Station, Texas is the largest transportation research agency in the United States. Created in 1950, primarily in response to the needs of the Texas Highway Department , TTI has since broadened its focus to address all modes of transportation–highway,...
indicated that the area was the 17th most congested area in the country, with the second fastest congestion growth. Congestion is also one of the most prominent complaints of area residents. The area's population is expected to grow by about one million residents by 2020, adding to the population of 3.2 million as of the 2010 census (Which means that in less than 10 years the area could have a population of more than 4 million similar in size to the metropolitan area of Phoenix, AZ or Detroit, MI.) While the Hiawatha Line is not expected to make a significant dent in the region overall, proponents hope that the line's popularity will ensure future expansion will happen (in the first full month of service, ridership exceeded projections by 99.8%, although transit officials were wary about drawing too many conclusions so early on in the line's life).
No new rail projects were able to get off the ground for many years until the 1990s when several factors combined to make the idea more palatable to area politicians. Governor Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura
James George Janos , better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host...
and Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg
Elwyn Tinklenberg
Elwyn "El" Tinklenberg is an American politician, and was the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nominee and Independence Party of Minnesota endorsee for U.S. Congress in Minnesota's 6th District elections in 2008...
heavily promoted the idea of rail transport, and significant amounts of money became available from the federal government. Previous governors had advocated light rail, but had not been able to get legislation passed. Governor Tim Pawlenty
Tim Pawlenty
Timothy James "Tim" Pawlenty , also known affectionately among supporters as T-Paw, is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Minnesota . He was a Republican candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election from May to August 2011...
had campaigned on a promise to fight the expansion of light rail, but has altered his opinions since taking office. He also initially opposed the proposed Northstar Corridor
Northstar Corridor
The Northstar Line is a commuter rail route in the U.S. state of Minnesota, which began service on November 16, 2009. The rail line serves part of the Northstar Corridor between Minneapolis and St. Cloud, and has been in planning since the Northstar Corridor Development Authority formed in 1997...
commuter rail project, which would be a rail corridor north of Minneapolis, but changed his mind about that project in January 2004 when a scaled-back version was shown to have good potential.
For many, the Hiawatha Avenue corridor was not the top choice for a new project. Popular other options included connecting Minneapolis with western suburbs, though probably the most-desired option has been the Green Line
Central Corridor (Minnesota)
The Central Corridor is a light rail line under construction that is to cover the stretch between the downtown regions of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota...
connecting the Twin Cities themselves (Minneapolis and St. Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
) with a route down the middle of Interstate 94
Interstate 94
Interstate 94 is the northernmost east–west Interstate Highway, connecting the Great Lakes and Intermountain regions of the United States. I-94's western terminus is in Billings, Montana at a junction with Interstate 90; its eastern terminus is the U.S...
or University Avenue. However, much of the land had already been acquired by the state in the 1960s in preparation for a sunken radial expressway into downtown that was never built. In addition to the available land, the desire to connect to the airport and at least reach the vicinity of the Mall of America proved to be the bigger draw for decision-makers.
The idea of running a rail line down Hiawatha Avenue had already been around for at least a decade by the time the decision was made to go forward. In 1985, the Minnesota Department of Transportation
Minnesota Department of Transportation
The Minnesota Department of Transportation oversees transportation by land, water, and air in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The cabinet-level agency is responsible for maintaining the state's trunk highway system The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT, pronounced "min-dot") oversees...
(Mn/DOT) had produced an environmental impact statement
Environmental impact statement
An environmental impact statement , under United States environmental law, is a document required by the National Environmental Policy Act for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An EIS is a tool for decision making...
that concluded that light rail was the best alternative for the corridor. In 1996, the document was examined again as Mn/DOT looked at the possibility of adding a busway (bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...
) along the road, but money for light rail became available soon after, leading to the current layout.
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians and...
for the line took place on January 17, 2001. Regular service began on the first phase of the line on June 26, 2004, with the second phase opening later that year on December 4. Each opening was accompanied with two days of free rides on the train and area bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
es. The line was tested
Quality control
Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:...
for months before opening, with regular service simulated for about a month before each phase went online. The Hiawatha Line opened 50 years and one week after the last regular-service streetcars ran in the city.
Busways are still being examined for many future projects, and it appears likely that at least one will be built. The most likely candidate for the area's second light rail line is the Central Corridor Line
Central Corridor (Minnesota)
The Central Corridor is a light rail line under construction that is to cover the stretch between the downtown regions of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota...
connecting downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul; on April 26, 2011, the U.S. government announced $478 million in funding for its construction.
Funding and delays
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
715 million, with $424 million coming from the federal government. This is considerably higher than initial budget
Budget
A budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...
s predicted—the figure was about $400 million in 1997. Opponents to the rail line state that it went far over-budget, but supporters of the line state that extensions of the route and other alterations, plus the impact of inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
, are the real reasons for the increased cost. Initial designs cut out the last stop in downtown, and the southern end of the line did not quite connect to the Mall of America. The Warehouse District stop was added early but another cost increase came from approximately $40 million to enhance the line (while construction was in progress) to bring the line directly into the Mall of America's transit hub. It was completed a year or two later than what was initially hoped for (a lot of literature pointed to 2003 as the opening year), but the mall connection was a significant contribution to the extra time requirements. These extensions are also why the line was initially reported to be 11.6 miles long, but ended up being 12 miles in length. The Target Field extension in 2009 added a few more tenths to the length.
In March 2004, the labor union representing Metro Transit bus workers went on strike. This delayed the opening of the line from the anticipated start date of April 3, although there was some indication that the opening would have been delayed anyway. Apparently, some of the delay had to do with slow delivery of trainsets from Bombardier. Certain aspects of the design had been tried before, but the cars were the first to combine the factors of conforming to American standards (as opposed to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an), having low floors, and being built at the company's Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
plant. Some problems also cropped up during testing of the vehicles, but Bombardier has said that the issues are not out of the ordinary.
When the buses began rolling again on April 19, the line's opening was rolled back to June 26. Testing of the track and vehicles continued during the bus strike, as much of the work was performed by Bombardier employees rather than Metro Transit workers. Train operators who had already gone through the training process were given refresher courses when the strike ended.
Signal problems
Delays of a different sort have afflicted cars and trucks running along Hiawatha Avenue and cross streets. The rail vehicles stop for traffic signals in downtown Minneapolis, but use signal preemption along much of the route, allowing the train to speed through by lowering gate arms at railroad crossings and turning traffic lightTraffic light
Traffic lights, which may also be known as stoplights, traffic lamps, traffic signals, signal lights, robots or semaphore, are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings and other locations to control competing flows of traffic...
s red. Synchronization of the different signals has been very problematic, reportedly causing some people to be stuck waiting at intersections for ten to fifteen minutes when the train was in its testing phase. Engineers from Metro Transit, the city of Minneapolis, and Mn/DOT have worked to get their respective systems communicating with each other, but delays are still common in the area.
Around the time of the line's opening, the Minneapolis City Council
Minneapolis City Council
The Minneapolis City Council is the governing body of the City of Minneapolis. The City Council is composed of 13 single member districts, called wards. Barbara Johnson is president of the council. The council is dominated by members of the DFL Party with 12 members. The Green Party has one member...
requested additional assistance from the Federal Highway Administration
Federal Highway Administration
The Federal Highway Administration is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two "programs," the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program...
to resolve the issue, and the agency promised to send experienced engineers when they become available. However, it appears that improvements would require significant changes to the signal layout.
Delay issues are partially due to an unusual problem: the train horns. Residents along the rail corridor had complained that the horns were too loud, so transit officials decided to reduce the volume. However, this forced a reduction in service speed, as the quieter sound could not be heard at as great a distance. Some sections that were going to be limited to 55 mph were instead limited to 45 mph. Crossing gates and signals along the line are set to go off when the train is at a certain distance from the intersection, so the slower speed meant that the trains would trigger the gates prematurely.
In February 2005, the signals were upgraded at a cost of between $300,000 and $400,000 to improve traffic flow (the money came from leftover contingency funds in the system's construction budget). Changes involved moving the crossing trigger points closer to intersections, reprogramming the gates themselves to operate more quickly, altering the timings used when trains are at stations next to gated crossings, and altering the behavior of pedestrian crosswalks along the corridor. This is all expected to improve wait times on nearby roadways by 20 to 40 seconds.