The Second Daily Passenger Train between the Twin Cities and Chicago will roll! We are calling it the Twin Cities Hiawatha

Governor Walz signed the Minnesota Transportation budget on Saturday June 26, which includes a $10M state appropriation to fund what we are calling, the Twin Cities Hiawatha- 2nd Train frequency between the Twin Cities and Chicago. This is a major win for us and all Minnesotans! The state appropriation will leverage a $32M federal grant for infrastructure work in Minnesota to enable the 2nd Train and provide the first step in realizing the MnDOT Passenger Rail Plan.

Again, We want to thank all of our members, friends, supporters, affiliated organizations and colleagues who contacted the Governor and their legislators to make this happen.

This would not have been possible without your active support!

So, what are the next steps and when will the train actually run? The first step is to put the process in motion to actually receive the grants which will happen this fall. The next and most major step is to then hire contractors to complete the infrastructure work which in Minnesota is largely in Winona and La Crescent. This infrastructure work is expected to take approximately two years. The final step will be to procure equipment, locomotives and coaches. There is a video posted in the Our Vision, Twin Cities to Chicago page of what the new train could look like. The Twin Cities Hiawatha is scheduled to begin service sometime in 2024. We will keep you posted as the project develops.

We issued a press release on June 26, which you can read in our News and Media section, Press Releases. There was good coverage in the Twin Cities and even the Fargo Forum published an article!