After 12 years of planning, Minnesota’s first commuter rail service is set to open. The public is invited to attend the ceremonial first trip of the Northstar Commuter Rail Saturday morning. The first bus will leave St. Cloud at 9:00 am, and the train will arrive in Minneapolis later in the afternoon. Ceremonies will be held at each station along the way.

Beginning Monday, many Minnesotans can kiss goodbye those long commutes down I-94. Traveling at speeds up to 79 miles per hour, the Northstar Commuter Line will take travelers along the 40-mile stretch between Big Lake and Minneapolis in about 45 minutes. There are stations along the way in Elk River, Anoka, Coon Rapids, Fridley, and finally, Target Field, the new home of the Minnesota Twins in downtown Minneapolis. The trains will run during morning and evening rush hours, as well as weekend and special event services.

Big Lake is about 30 miles southeast of St. Cloud, so what does this mean for residents of the St. Cloud metropolitan area?  For now, there’s a park and ride in St. Cloud where people can park their cars, take a bus to Big Lake, and access the Commuter Rail from there. The Park and Ride is located on St. Cloud’s southeast side, at Lincoln Avenue and Highway 10.

But there are bigger discussions going on. This summer, the Minnesota Department of Transportation applied for a $150 million dollar grant that would cover design and construction to extend the rail line from Big Lake to St. Cloud. That grant is still pending, but one member of the Northstar Corridor Development Authority tells KVSC, they’ve been given a preliminary confirmation. But don’t expect this to happen overnight. The DOT says if everything goes thru with no hiccups… the line could be extended to St. Cloud by 2012 at the earliest.

The cost to ride the park and ride bus from St. Cloud to Big Lake is $1 dollar. The cost to ride the train from Big Lake to Minneapolis is $7 dollars. It is estimated that 3,400 people will ride the rail each weekday.