Metro Blue Line

Hiawatha Line near Cedar-Riverside station

The line route in 2006. In 2009, the two new stops Target Field (in northern extension) and American Boulevard (north of Bloomington Central ) were opened. Since 2016, the former "Downtown East / Metrodome" stop has been named after the newly opened US Bank Stadium .

The Metro Blue Line is a light rail line in the Twin Cities , Minnesota . The 19.8 kilometer long line runs from Minneapolis first to Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport , which will be developed underground, and on to the suburb of Bloomington to the Mall of America .

It opened as the Hiawatha Line in 2004 and is Minneapolis' first light rail system since the 1950s. In 2008 around 10.2 million passengers were carried annually. In 2009 there was a short extension by one stop in the north. The name was changed to Blue Line in 2013 .

The operation is carried out by Metro Transit . A further extension in the north is planned, the opening will take place in 2021 at the earliest.

Since 2014 there has been a second light rail line, the Green Line . It shares the five northern stops with the Blue Line , but then continues east to the sister city of St. Paul .

history

After the tram network in the Twin Cities was shut down in 1954 and the rails were removed, the desire for a new light rail grew in the 1990s. The main reason for this was that, due to the growth of the metropolitan region, it was reaching its capacity limits in terms of transport. The only alternative to popular private car transport was the Metro Transit bus network . In particular, Governor Jesse Ventura pushed the construction of the light rail and promised state support. However, the choice of the route was not without controversy. Routes from downtown to the western suburbs and between Minneapolis and St. Paul were discussed. Nevertheless, the route to the airport and the Mall of America prevailed.

Construction work began on January 17th, 2001. In addition to delays in construction, costs also rose explosively. The planned expenditure of 400 million US dollars was soon exceeded and ended up at around 715 million US dollars, of which 424 million was borne by the state of Minnesota.

Regular operations began in a first phase on June 26, 2004; the second phase of operation began on December 4 of the same year. The line is named after Hiawatha Avenue ( Minnesota State Route 55 ), which runs parallel to the route for a large part.

Problems with the coordination of the signal systems between the road traffic and the light rail make a retrofit necessary in 2005, the cost of which was around 400,000 US dollars. The coordination problems of the individual signals were eliminated in order to achieve a smoother flow of traffic with shorter waiting times.

In 2009 and 2010, all stops were extended, so that since then vehicles can also travel with three instead of two cars as a unit.

vehicles

The first vehicles purchased were 27 Flexity Swift vehicles from Bombardier . The trams, which are supplied with electricity via an overhead line, run at an operating speed of up to 65 km / h - but within the city center they are usually much slower. The vehicles have a low-floor share of 70 percent and enable barrier-free access to all stations. Each car offers 66 seats and 120 standing places, although at first only one or two cars could run as a unit, since 2010 three cars have also been possible.

The second series of light rail vehicles running in Minneapolis consists of 59 Siemens Avanto trains , which were delivered from 2012. The majority of these are intended for the new Green Line , but twelve cars also run on the Blue Line in order to cover the additional vehicle requirements for the use of three-car trains.

Line route

The northern 5 stops are in downtown Minneapolis.

• The route begins at Target Field , a baseball stadium opened in 2010. The line extension to this stop was only opened in November 2009. There is a possibility to transfer to the Northstar Line , a then newly created passenger rail link, which leads over some northern suburbs to the city of Big Lake , 40 miles away .
• The Warehouse District / Hennepin Avenue stop was the northern terminus of the line until 2009. Among other things, it opens up the Target Center basketball hall .
• The Nicollet Mall stop is a popular stop in a central city location.
• The Minneapolis City Hall and Hennepin County Courthouse is located at the Big Lake, Minnesota stop .
• The US Bank Stadium stop is named after a football stadium that opened in 2016. It was previously called Downtown East .

After that, the branches Green Line from St. Paul.

In the subsequent section of the Blue Line , the railway line runs right next to Hiawatha Avenue, from which the original name Hiawatha Line arose . The route then reaches Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, which it crosses underground. There is a stop at each of the two airport terminals, and the train can be used free of charge as an airport shuttle between these stops. The line then reaches the suburb of Bloomington, where the American Boulevard Station was also added in 2009 as a new stop. It ends at the Mall of America shopping center .

The 19 stations are approached every 10 minutes during the day. In the evening the Hiawatha Line runs every 30 minutes, at night the service is interrupted by a four-hour break, only the airport shuttle runs continuously.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ apta.com: Ridership Report Archives ( Memento of the original from December 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Web links

Commons : Metro Blue Line  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Metro Transit: Hiawatha Line (Route 55 )
• Metropolitan Council: Hiawatha Line (Eng.)