1.
Metro Transit (Minnesota)
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Metro Transit is the primary public transportation operator in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area of the U. S. state of Minnesota and the largest operator in the state. The remainder of transit ridership is generally split among suburban “opt-out” carriers operating out of cities that have not to participate in the Metro Transit network. The biggest opt-out providers are Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, Maple Grove Transit, the University of Minnesota also operates a campus shuttle system of its own, which ranks second in the state, measured by ridership. In 2011, buses carried over 86% of the system’s passengers, nearly 13% of ridership was concentrated on Metro Transit’s busiest route, the Blue Line light rail and the remainder rode the Northstar commuter rail service. In 2014, Metro Transit saw its highest ridership in three decades with a total of 84.5 million trips, including 6.5 million on the newly opened Green Line, the single-day ridership record is 369,626, set on September 1,2016. Metro Transit drivers and vehicle maintenance personnel are organized through the Amalgamated Transit Union, the agency was established by the Minnesota State Legislature in 1967 as the Metropolitan Transit Commission. MTC’s operations were moved under the auspices of the Metropolitan Council in 1994, prompting a change to “Metropolitan Council Transit Operations” and then, in 1998. The organization traces its history back to the 19th-century streetcar systems of the region through the acquisition in 1970 of the Twin City Lines bus system from businessman Carl Pohlad. At the time of the acquisition, Twin City Lines had 635 buses, MTC acquired 465 new buses over the next five years and built many new bus shelters. Shortly thereafter, a battle began to return rail transit to the region. It took 32 years to see the first line implemented, in 1972, the Regional Fixed Guideway Study for MTC proposed a $1. The Met Council had its own plans for bus transit in the Cities. Heavy-rail commuter service began on November 14,2009, with the Northstar Line, the 2010s decade may finally see several new lines open. Metro Transit does not cover the whole Twin Cities area, bus service in the suburbs was being cut back in the early 1980s and suburb-to-suburb service was limited. In 1986, cities and counties in the seven-county metropolitan area were given the option to run their own bus services, about 17. 5% of the area which has regular route transit service is served by these six other “opt out” transit systems. About 5% of the system is contracted to private transit providers, in the mid-2000s decade, the system claimed to have a safety record five times better than the national average. Metro Transit currently receives the majority of its funding from the State Motor Vehicle Sales Tax, Metro Transit prepares an annual calendar budget, but most of its subsidy comes from state funds, on a July 1 biennial budget. Local policy requires that one third of the funding is to come from fares
2.
Metro Blue Line (Minnesota)
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The METRO Blue Line is a 12-mile light rail line in Hennepin County, Minnesota that extends from downtown Minneapolis to the southern suburb of Bloomington. The line was named after Hiawatha Avenue which runs parallel to a good portion of the line. Major locations on the line include the Mall of America, Minneapolis–St, Paul International Airport and Target Field in downtown Minneapolis. The Blue Line is operated by Metro Transit, which is also the operator of buses in the Twin Cities. The line accounts for about 13% of Metro Transits total ridership, less than two years after opening, the line had already exceeded its 2020 weekday ridership goal of 24,800. The line carried 10.6 million riders in 2015, in July 2011, the Metropolitan Council officially approved renaming the Hiawatha Line as the Blue Line. The name officially changed on Friday, May 17,2013, each of the 19 stations along the route is designed in a unique architectural style reflective of the stations surrounding community. This is not a new idea for the region, as many of the higher-traffic bus stops around the city have distinctive designs. Due to the makeup of Minneapoliss population, ticket-dispensing machines present instructions in four languages, English, Spanish, Somali. Travel time is two to three minutes between most stations. The airport used to operate a bus shuttle between the two terminals, but the line has replaced that service. No fare is required to ride between the two stations and trains run between these 2 stations 24 hours a day,7 days a week. During the summer of 2009, work began on lengthening the station platforms and this allowed the use of three-car trains, instead of the two-car trains that were the previous maximum. This allowed the line to meet the growing demand without adding additional trains to the schedule or adding more drivers. The expansions were completed in 2010, 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 Field, in addition, some routing options for the future Southwest Corridor Green Line extension would connect directly to the end of the Blue Line to share service with the station. Federal money was secured for construction of the new American Boulevard Station in Bloomington between the Humphrey Terminal Station and Bloomington Central Station and this station was included in the lines original plans, but was postponed until future demand. Light rail staff, security, and volunteers produced a largely hitch-free opening day for the new system on June 26,2004
3.
Metro Green Line (Minnesota)
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The Metro Green Line is an 11-mile light rail line that connects the central business districts of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota as well as the University of Minnesota. An extension is being planned that would extend the line to the southwest connecting St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, the line follows the path of former Metro Transit bus route 16 along University Avenue and Washington Avenue. It is the second line in the region, after the Blue Line. Construction on the Green Line began in late 2010 and it opened to the public on June 14,2014. The travel time between the downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul stops is about 46 minutes and this entire line operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In 2015, the line carried a total of 12.4 million passengers, the route is a descendant of the Twin City Rapid Transit Companys St. Paul–Minneapolis streetcar line, also known as the Interurban line. Streetcars became practical along the route with the advent of electrification, in the 1950s, the decision was made to convert the streetcar system to buses. Streetcar service along the Interurban line ended in Saint Paul on October 31,1953, service continued a short while longer in Minneapolis until November 28. However, due to service elsewhere in Minneapolis, streetcars continued to use the tracks along University to reach the shops at Snelling Avenue in Saint Paul until June 1954. Twin City Lines continued to operate buses until 1970, when the company was taken over by the Metropolitan Transit Commission. The route 16 bus was developed in the 1950s to replace the streetcar, other parallel service included freeway express service on route 94 and limited-stop service to the University of Minnesota on route 50. In 1972, the Regional Fixed Guideway Study for the Metropolitan Transit Commission proposed a $1, the Met Council had its own plans for bus rapid transit in the metropolitan region. It took another two decades before the Blue Line light rail line began operation and it began service on June 26,2004, just over 50 years since the last regular-service streetcar ran on June 19,1954. In May 2006 the CCCC concluded its study by publishing a Draft Environmental Impact Study, on June 28,2006, the Metropolitan Council concurred with the CCCCs decision and officially selected LRT as the locally preferred alternative. The work of the Central Corridor Coordinating Committee is now complete, a 2003 study commissioned by the Central Corridor Coordinating Committee placed the cost at US$840 million. Cost estimates placed the cost of the rail line in 2003, at about US$957 million. On June 6,2006, the rail option was endorsed by the Central Corridor Coordinating Committee. The Metropolitan Council gave final approval to this decision on June 28,2006, the existing Blue Line has exceeded ridership predictions, as is the case with many other light rail lines constructed in the U. S. during the last decade
4.
Side platform
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A side platform is a platform positioned to the side of a pair of tracks at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. Dual side platform stations, one for direction of travel, is the basic station design used for double-track railway lines. Side platforms may result in a wider overall footprint for the station compared with a platform where a single width of platform can be shared by riders using either track. In some stations, the two platforms are connected by a footbridge running above and over the tracks. While a pair of platforms is often provided on a dual-track line. Where the station is close to a crossing the platforms may either be on the same side of the crossing road or alternatively may be staggered in one of two ways. With the near-side platforms configuration, each platform appears before the intersection, in some situations a single side platform can be served by multiple vehicles simultaneously with a scissors crossing provided to allow access mid-way along its length. Normally, the facilities of the station are located on the Up platform with the other platform accessed from a footbridge. However, in cases the stations main buildings are located on whichever side faces the town or village the station serves. Larger stations may have two platforms with several island platforms in between. Some are in a Spanish solution format, with two platforms and an island platform in between, serving two tracks
5.
Nicollet Mall (Metro Transit station)
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The Nicollet Mall station is a light rail station on the METRO Blue Line, Green Line and proposed METRO Orange Line in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This station is located on 5th Street South, between Nicollet Mall and Marquette Avenue in Minneapolis and this is a center-platform station with one traffic lane to the south of the platform. Service began at this station when the Blue Line opened on June 26,2004, the Nicollet Mall platform is probably the most heavily used station on the whole line, as it is closest to the major buildings of downtown. To reflect the buildings of the citys central business district, the platforms design incorporates tall steel columns along the center. Nicollet Mall Gaviidae Common Soo Line Building – the citys tallest commercial building from 1915 to 1929,510 Marquette Building – the original Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis The Minneapolis Public Librarys Central location. Wells Fargo Center Marquette Plaza – catenary-support building and the second Minneapolis Federal Reserve building, IDS Center Metro Transit, Nicollet Mall Station
6.
Target Field (Metro Transit station)
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Target Field Station is a multimodal commuter train and light rail station in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Located in the North Loop area of Downtown Minneapolis, the name of the station reflects that of the Minnesota Twins Target Field baseball stadium located next to the station, Target Field. METRO Blue Line light rail service started November 14,2009, Northstar Line commuter rail service started November 16,2009, the station adjoins Target Field, and commuter rail trains are able to wait next to the stadium. The station has a platform serving commuter rail and two sets of light rail island platforms. The first was opened in 2009, the second in 2014, the commuter train platform runs northeast/southwest below at ground level between two tracks. The 2009 light rail station platforms run northwest/southeast on the 5th Street North bridge over the rail tracks. By the commuter platform is a track on the northwest side that allows freight traffic to bypass the platform tracks. The first railroad tracks in Minneapolis on the west bank of the Mississippi were placed in this location by the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad which later became the Great Northern Railway. The Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway and Great Northern Railway laid parallel east/west tracks in this location platted as Dakota Avenue/4th Avenue between 3rd Street North and 5th Street North. The Minneapolis and St. Louis Track was the southern track and this grade separation was agreed in 1890 after much litigation. The station is near the sites of two former Minneapolis railroad depots, the first rail depot in downtown Minneapolis was located two blocks east along the same tracks. The Electric Short Line Railway depot was located at the northwest corner of 7th St. North and it was shared with the Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Company, as well as the Minneapolis, Anoka and Cuyuna Range Interurban railway. Both sites are now parking lots, the station was opened in 2009, to serve Northstar Commuter Rail and the Hiawatha Line, now METRO Blue Line. The light rail line was extended from its terminus at Warehouse District / Hennepin Avenue to serve the new station. The Minnesota Twins pledged $2.6 million for its construction, the 2014 addition was designed by New York-based Perkins Eastman, to provide additional platform space for both METRO Green and Blue Lines, as well as provide community gathering space. The Green Line extension, also known as the Southwest Corridor to Eden Prairie, the Northern Lights Express to Duluth would originate at Target Field Station. Light rail trains from both Blue and Green Lines serve both the 2009 and 2014 platforms, each train makes two stops at the station to serve both sets of platforms. The Northstar commuter rail fares from this range from $3.00 to $6.00 on weekdays and $2.50 to $5.25 on weekends
7.
U.S. Bank Stadium (Metro Transit station)
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Bank Stadium Station station is a light rail station on the METRO Blue Line and Green Line in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The station is located next to U. S, bank Stadium, where the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome plaza used to be at the east end of downtown Minneapolis. Service began at this station when the Blue Line opened on June 26,2004, in March 2016, the station was renamed to U. S. The station is served by METRO Green and Blue Lines and it is the primary transfer point between the two lines, as it is the last east/south-bound station shared by the two. Green Line trains feature posters reminding airport-bound passengers to change to the Blue Line at Downtown East, during sporting events at the Metrodome, large crowds used to line up to use the trains. It would take up to an hour for the platforms to return to normal after a big game, today, the METRO Green Line light rail runs between Minneapolis and St. Paul and now provides a direct connection to the university. Among buses, only Route 3 now serves the station, East of this station, past the crossing of 4th Street and Chicago Avenue, trains enter the segment of the line where automatic block signaling is used. In contrast, light rail vehicles must obey stop lights in the downtown region, the rail line uses a system of lights which display either vertical or horizontal white bars to the train operator. The two METRO lines split east of the station, over Interstate 35W, a major feature of the site is a set of large ornamental arches and the plaza paving design, by artist Andrew Leicester, which stand next to the station. They are meant to reflect the Stone Arch Bridge, a landmark of the city that crosses the Mississippi River a few blocks away. The patterns in the brickwork are meant to reflect fabric designs worn by 19th century immigrants in the Elliot Park neighborhood, bank Stadium Minneapolis Armory Former Star Tribune Headquarters Hennepin County Medical Center Mill City Museum Guthrie Theater Media related to U. S. Bank Stadium at Wikimedia Commons Metro Transit, Downtown East Station
8.
Saint Paul Union Depot
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Saint Pauls Union Depot is an historic railroad station and intermodal transit hub located in the Lowertown neighborhood of the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It serves inter-city rail, inter-city bus, and local bus services, the METRO Green Line light rail has a stop outside the stations headhouse. At one time the Saint Paul Union Depot Company controlled 9.24 miles of St. Paul trackage and terminal facilities, including the depot building. The company was operated in tandem with the Minnesota Transfer Railway Company, the 4th Street entrance to Union Depot, the headhouse, designed by architect Charles Sumner Frost, is neoclassical in style. The concourse and the room that extend over the tracks are viewed as a great architectural achievements. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and it is also a contributing property to the Lowertown Historic District. Amtrak service moved to the Union Depot on May 7,2014, Union Depot also serves Metro Transit, MVTA, Jefferson Lines, Greyhound, and MegaBus. There actually have been two Union Depots in St. Paul, the first was completed in 1881, and combined the services of several different railroads into one building. In 1888 the old station had its peak year, handling eight million passengers and that year, about 150 trains departed daily. Around this time, the building was remodeled with a central tower and other alterations to the roofline. The current structure was started in 1917 but was not completed until 1923 because World War I caused construction to halt for several years, at its peak in the 1920s, there were 282 train movements daily. The waiting room stood atop nine platforms serving 18 tracks, the eight northern ones closest to the headhouse were stub-end tracks, however, track ownership and trackage rights west of the station meant that most trains operated as though the station was a stub terminal. These trains, when they were intended to continue beyond the station, Train ridership began to erode in the 1920s as the automobile took hold and airlines began to operate. The railroads sought ways stem the flow of passengers and compete with new forms of transportation. As the Great Depression unfolded, more moves were required. The streamliner era in the United States began in 1934 with the introduction of the Chicago, Burlington, after making a Dawn-to-Dusk Dash from Chicago to Denver, Colorado, the CB&Qs interest soon turned to the Twin Cities run. A demonstration run was completed in 6 hours and 4 minutes, other railroads were soon busy investigating how to run faster trains to Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Time dubbed the 400, the fastest train scheduled on the American Continent, the C&NW beat two other railroads which had been planning 6½ hour service to begin in the spring
9.
Light rail
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Light rail, light rail transit or fast tram is urban public transport using rolling stock similar to a tramway, but operating at a higher capacity, and often on an exclusive right-of-way. A few light rail networks tend to have closer to rapid transit or even commuter rail. Other light rail networks are tram-like in nature and partially operate on streets, Light rail systems are found throughout the world, on all inhabited continents. They have been popular in recent years due to their lower capital costs. The term light rail was coined in 1972 by the U. S, Urban Mass Transportation Administration to describe new streetcar transformations that were taking place in Europe and the United States. In Germany the term Stadtbahn was used to describe the concept, and many in UMTA wanted to adopt the direct translation, however, UMTA finally adopted the term light rail instead. Light in this context is used in the sense of intended for light loads and fast movement, the infrastructure investment is also usually lighter than would be found for a heavy rail system. The Transportation Research Board defined light rail in 1977 as a mode of urban transportation utilizing predominantly reserved, electrically propelled rail vehicles operate singly or in trains. LRT provides a range of passenger capabilities and performance characteristics at moderate costs. Light rail is a generic international English phrase for these types of rail systems, the use of the generic term light rail avoids some serious incompatibilities between British and American English. The word trolley is used as a synonym for streetcar in the United States. A further difference arose because, while Britain abandoned all of its trams except Blackpool after World War II, when these cities upgraded to new technology, they called it light rail to differentiate it from their existing streetcars since some continued to operate both the old and new systems. Conventional rail technologies including high-speed, freight, commuter/regional, and metro/subway/elevated urban transit systems are considered heavy rail, people movers and personal rapid transit are even lighter, at least in terms of capacity. Monorail is a technology that has been more successful in specialized services than in a commuter transit role. Due to varying definitions, it is hard to distinguish between what is called light rail, and other forms of urban and commuter rail, a system described as light rail in one city may be considered to be a streetcar or tram system in another. Conversely, some lines that are called light rail are in very similar to rapid transit, in recent years. Some light rail systems, such as Sprinter, bear little similarity to urban rail, in the United States, light rail has become a catch-all term to describe a wide variety of passenger rail systems. There is a significant difference in cost between these different classes of light rail transit, tram-like systems are often less expensive than metro-like systems by a factor of two or more
10.
Tram stop
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A tram stop, tram station, streetcar stop, or light rail station is a place designated for a tram, streetcar, or light rail vehicle to stop so passengers can board or alight it. Generally, tram stops share most characteristics of bus stops, but because trams operate on rails, they often include railway platforms, however, trams may also be used with bus stop type flags and with mid-street pavements as platforms, in street running mode. Most tram or streetcar stops in Melbourne and Toronto and other systems with extensive sections of street-running have no associated platforms, with stops in the middle of the roadway pavement. In most jurisdictions, traffic cannot legally pass a tram or streetcar whose doors are open, on the other hand, several light rail systems have high-platform stops or stations with dedicated platforms at railway platform height. Reasons for this include systems being created from former rail routes. Such trams also stop at dedicated platform stops on Stadtbahns in Germany, not all tram stops are served full-time. In the 1920s, Toronto created Sunday stops in addition to stops along its streetcar routes. Sunday stops were only used on a Sunday and, with few exceptions, were always near a Christian church, there were also a few Sunday stops near subway stations that were usable only before 9 am, the Sunday opening time of the subway system. However, the Toronto Transit Commission decided to close all Sunday stops on June 7,2015, the TTC found that Sunday stops slow down streetcars making it more difficult to maintain schedules. Also, Sunday stops were also unfair to non-Christian places of worship which never had the equivalent of a Sunday stop, by 2015, most Sunday stops were along current and former streetcar routes. The design of tram stops have seen many recent innovations, the Dubai Tram, bus stop Street running Train/railway station
