By the end of November, the course of the proposed Northern Lights Express (NLX) rail system will be set.

The NLX system is planned to provide express passenger rail service between Duluth/Superior and Minneapolis/St. Paul, with limited stops along the way. An environmental study of the various possible routes is being studied, and the conclusions of that study will be presented at the Nov. 23 meeting. At that meeting, planners will determine the course of the proposed rail system.

A tentative course has been established for the system, which has it running south from Duluth/Superior, with stops in Hinckley, Cambridge, and the northern Twin Cities.

However, other routes are being considered, including one which runs mainly through eastern Wisconsin, and one which runs through Hugo and North Branch.

The conclusions will be reviewed by the full NLX board.

Project cost

The proposed Northern Lights Express project now has an estimated local price tag.

At the Oct. 28 meeting, NLX Executive Director Bob Manzilone discussed some financial numbers for the project which he qualified as “very preliminary.” These numbers were broken down by federal, state, and local government contributions.

The contribution from the federal government Manzoline estimated at $492 million dollars. The state contribution was estimated at $90 million.

The local government contribution, shared between all local governments involved in the project, was $32 million.

Pine County Commissioner Doug Carlson suggested that the local government contribution be divided according to population, with more heavily-populated regions paying a larger share.

Manzoline stressed that these numbers were meant as a “speculative starting point” to work from, and that they would likely change as the project goes forward.

Anoka County Commissioner Dan Erhart commented that having numbers like these would make pitching the project to state and federal groups “more effective.” Having a local contribution element showed that the group was not “looking for a hand-out.”

MnDOT raises status of NLX

NLX officials reported that MnDOT has changed how the NLX project is ranked in the list of proposed rail projects in Minnesota.

Currently, the proposed line between the Twin Cities and St. Cloud is ranked first. However, NLX is tied for second with the proposed line between the Twin Cities and Rochester.

Previously, the NLX project was ranked fifth in the state.

This change in rank occurred because a review of data showed that there would be 80,000 more prospective riders using the NLX line than the earlier MnDOT study had indicated.

Public meetings scheduled

Several meetings with the public have been scheduled as part of a promotional and informational tour by NLX team members designed to raise support for the project.

Three of these meetings are scheduled to take place in Andover, Hinckley and Superior in early December.

At the urging of Isanti County Commissioner Larry Southerland, NLX board members voted to add one more meeting to the tour. That meeting will take place in Cambridge, and will most likely occur in early December.

The cost of the additional meeting is estimated at $1,000.