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Thanks! Yes indeed, the download speeds were adequate for most pages I loaded. Cellular coverage was better than some east coast lines, too

That's a useful connection point for quite a few folks, looking at how occuppied the lot was the day I visited. Metro Transit would convince more people of the line's usefulness if they were more interested in running bus lines through suburbs and exurbs rather than just in MSP proper.

Thank you! Borealis has first come first served seating. Bring some snack & drinks would be my advice!

Amtrak remains glued to the past policies where CONDUCTORS are the BOSS on a train and they decide who sits where when necessary, not the paying passengers...

Fargo needs a daylight train!

When I booked three weeks in advance and the train was at low ridership, it was $192 roundtrip MSP-CHI

You're onto something there. Great guest service goes a long way to building a brand. Amtrak's too often lacking in that measure.

It certainly won't do better at the current rate of promotion/support of the officials who claim to support it.

Yeah, it was tightly timed on this run. Two minutes, by the conductor's watch!

I've read about that route and I would agree, it sounds awesome.

@@StevesWanderlust You better believe it was and still is. There was a reason the Twin Cities Zephyr and the Mainstreeter had dome coaches. The scenery was terrific year around, especially with the Wisconsin Palisades on one side and the Mississippi River on the other.

Unfortunately that route doesn't serve Milwaukee... The Milwaukee Road route brings MORE passengers. After all this train is a extension of a already existing train...

It looks like the advocacy group All Aboard Minnesota is focusing on a Fargo extension next. Some planning work has begun for adding service to the Twin Cities via Madison and Eau Claire (not sure if that's one or two trains) and service to Green Bay. There might be a demonstration train from Milwaukee to Green Bay for the NFL Draft next year, but it's hard to say how likely that is

I'd be interested to see if American View could make a tour of the other WI routes. Splitting the Borealis & Builder would build separate brands based on scenery not to mention additionsl cities served.

While it is nice Minneapolis-St. Paul has a second better timed service to Chicago, there are other cities that should have more and better timed services as well. The largest Amtrak FAILURE is NOT having multiple train services directly from Houston to Dallas. A collossal FAILURE without any doubt whatsoever, this failure is CRIMINAL... Two of the ten largest METROS, should I say five largest METROS, less than 250 miles apart SHOULD have multiple daily services, that is IF Amtrak desires to remain in existence for much longer... Amtrak's services in the second largest populated STATE sucks!

Borealis has a much better capability of making a halfway go-back trip happen on predictable timeframes. North Glenview could be a great transit hub for Amtrak, but they're not great at dipolmatic relations with suburbs nor exurbs.

@@StevesWanderlust Was thinking farther west, if you could get half the trains out of Union Station there would be more room. All you do with North Glenview is change where the Empire Builder , Borealis and Hiawaitha(sp) start. Maybe if you had 3 sub hubs: North, West and Southeast. That way someone that is going through, wouldn't even need to go to Union Station.

Union Station is fine, its just especially bad right now because of the construction they are doing. Once it is completed, things will go more or less back to normal.

@@stanford2444 Unfortunately the train advocates proclaim the glory of downtown to downtown services, not the suburbs...

What is CONO?

Yes, City of New Orleans would be a bookable connection. I'd consider it among the south coast services, and a fantastic train. My first sleeper experience in '08!

The City of New Orleans, the train once called Panama Limited.

One of the connections I have looked at. And do able even if Borealis is 2 hours late. But it was 5 hours late the other day which I do not understand.

@@stanford2444 Must have been something abnormal? It seems to do well most of the time?

It's decent, not worn out for sure!

You're welcome, thanks for saying so! The artist is Denis Pavlov. I found him on pixabay.com under free license.

It occasionally does, on a limited schedule during summer weekends. I'll be on the Duluth Zephyr in another week, on Father's Day.

Oh yes you did! I'm addressing that in Friday's westbound video. Logic is actually that I'm wearing a larger size (12) sandal than my foot size (10.5W), so the socks fill the gap.

@@StevesWanderlust Ok, well thanks for that, lad. It's a proper and acceptable explanation indeed. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Free Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

​@@StevesWanderlustI think many of us look forward to the explanation as to why a person who wears 10.5 has decided to lace up 12s. 🤔

Good point. The variability of the EB's on time performance is what made Borealis a novel option. Ultimately, the difficulties Amtrak faces in developing the line into capably fostering new ridership will determine whether it moves from novelty status to a more highly utilized transportation choice. Really, it's most reliant on fuel costs and public disenchantment with air travel. Inconvenience and poor on time performance could hinder that.

Schedule of the EB's not great - it's like 8AM eastbound, but arrives in MSP westbound at 11PM.

I've had that same experience. I unfortunately had it on my westbound return trip aboard the Borealis, a topic for Friday's new video.

A good number of railroads radiate from both Twin Cities. Red Wing, Buffalo, Fairbaut, Mankato and the Chippewa Valley all have right of way extant. If there was any coherent effort for public transit to expand beyond its current limits (and frequency expanded throughout) it would be competetive with personal vehicles. But Metro Transit doesn't believe in any opportunities bryond 494/694.

I agree conpletely.

Thank you!

The Auto Train is from Northern Virginia to Sanford Florida. It’s a special train that does not allow passengers without a car. The previous operator tried adding a train from Florida to Louisville, Kentucky to create a Mid-West service. The train operates as an overnight service and is Amtrak’s longest train with all the auto racks, coaches and sleepers.

Auto rack loading does happen for non-amtrak freight purposes (vehicle manufacturer shipments) at the BNSF yard just south of the depot in St. Paul. The auto train concept could be successful again with the right execution, in many parts of the country. The Sanford-Lorton Amtrak Auto Train is on my bucket list.

Thanks, I always hope I can help someone with these trips.

Yeah, my concern was the few security guards and other MT minders wouldn't be full time and/or too limited a team to make a dent in the bad stuff.

Indeed. There's barely any promotion of it, but the lack of final mile transit in the suburbs is the real killer.

Unlike the crowded northeastern corridor between Boston and let’s say for instance NYC, there isn’t nearly as big need to add additional service to St.Paul. And besides, that’s why the LRT line is designed for to carry passengers from the train platform over to St.Paul. Course it doesn’t actually go into the depot itself.🤔 But, if there really was a need, they’d make it happen.

MT has this nature to barely get real new transit operations going. Test operations ran Northstar trains to St. Paul, but ultimately they didn't get into negotiation of train movrments through the busy Midway Yard. They succombed to the whims of the freight railroads' desires to limit expansion of passenger operations through the yard.

That service will be great. SLO has the interest to run more than two Surfliner runs per day.

@@StevesWanderlust Absolutely 100% correct!

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the view!

Very true. My way of avoiding tolls is to park at Metra in Harvard & take tHe UP-NW into Ogilvie. Days of parking there are cheaper than hours in the loop!

Thank you for that specific advice! I will gladly make that change starting next week.

Thanks!

Thanks for watching, I appreciate the time you took for it.

However to increase speeds over 79mph requires improved SIGNALS, apparently no one wants to pay for as it's very expensive. Plus improved road crossings signals as well. More expensive than using used old coaches and locomotives... While Amtrak is receiving new Siemens Venture coaches and Siemens locomotives elsewhere allowing used Horizon coaches and Genesis locomotives to be used for the Borealis, in the past Amtrak didn't have excess rolling stock or locomotives... Please note how LONG its takes for Amtrak to receive new locomotives and coaches after the order is placed. Several years to a decade, not a few months... We ain't buying new automobiles in stock at your nearest car dealership... Siemens first fulfilled the Florida Brightline order, a Amtrak California order, a Amtrak Midwest order, a Canadian VIA order, a Amtrak east coast order, a Amtrak Cascades order, and now a possible Borealis order and a Northern Lights Express order... Don't expect these orders to be completely fulfilled for a decade at least... New coaches do not appear by magic with a wave of a wand...

That section certainly deserves the upgrades.

Indeed, this is an important obstacle to understand. The heavy rail manufacturing industry would do well to see some new names with competetive concepts. Such would invigorate the identity of passenger rail with the driving public, especially under an American owned nameplate.

Oh, man I missed ya! Thanks for coming out to catch 1340, even if I couldn't catch you!

Good point. I suspect a slow order at the time of recording. I really need to remember to bring my scanner on these local trips.

@@StevesWanderlust in General this route could be quite a lot faster right, i havent looked at the average Speed but doesnt seem that impressive, how long are the station dwell times because Ive noticed these tend to be quite an Achilles heel of US commuter and regional rail even super busy electric systems like LIRR.

I agree, even if Metro Transit's BRT concepts operate like dressed up limited stop routes. The Gold Line has some interesting engineering concepts that will hopefully expand the transit audience on the east side. Having moved to Plynouth from Woodbyry I miss route 323, infrequent but well-routed with early and late night runs, too. I think Plymouth Click-and-ride will get a video once I develop a concept for an intriguing trip going.

I believe that is correct about Richmond, yes. Thanks!

A connection opportunity should exist with the in-planning Northern Lights Express route. It's told to be an Amtrak-operated route, but it's expected to terminate at the Northstar station in Mpls. Hopefully there's life in negotiations with the freight operators because reliance on a Green Line LRT connection would overcomplicate a good possible transfer point at St. Paul.

Bemidji would be super sweet! A girl can dream.

@@StevesWanderlustOne of the Corridor ID proposals calls for extending one of the future Borealis trains(4 to 5 are planned) to Duluth.

Going to Duluth would require another Amtrak train set. Extending from Chicago to Duluth and back is too far for the two train sets Amtrak is using for the Borealis... A longer distance does require more time considering as it is to reach St. Paul there is already a train crew exchange at Milwaukee most likely involved with the Hiawatha services there. Amtrak locomotive and conductor train crews have limited hours to meet federal labor laws. There is a lot more involved then just extending train routes on a whim...

Yes and make it more then a route for tourists. Really hoping we can go down and come back to Duluth the same day.

Thanks! It's a very simple service, but it enjoyably makes memorable trips possible.

Unfortunately not withouy a tunnel. Light rail runs down there along 5th St. and the old rail connrctions went away in the 80's when the passenger depots closed in Mpls. The LRT connection is as good as it gets for now.

@@StevesWanderlust Bummer. I've seen talk about an extension along the Bottineau corridor ending near 610 and 169. It would obviously require a bridge but is there any logic in connecting that to Anoka? So often public transit maps end up looking like a spider and not a web. Often leaving those on the line with only one direction to travel. Seems like that that last little bit offers both lines, and particularly Anoka an opportunity to double the number of destinations.

It was just that, a nice trip!

St. Louis: yes but not for a couple years, I do want to try out the higher speed Lincoln Service and give a proper specific critique on Venture cars. Detroit: unfortunately not yet! It's on my list along with the tunnel bus. While these routes get better ridership than many routes, frequency is the uphill battle - getting folks onboard at more times will sell services better.