Metro Blue Line
Blue Line light rail in downtown Minneapolis
Overview
Locale	Minneapolis–St. Paul
Termini	Target Field (north) Mall of America (south)
Stations	19 open, 10 proposed
Website	Metro Blue Line
Service
Type	Light rail
System	Metro
Route number	901
Operator(s)	Metro Transit
Rolling stock	Bombardier LF-70 or Siemens S70 and S700 3-car trains (typical, maximum)
Daily ridership	31,471 (avg. weekday, 2015)[1]
History
Opened	June 26, 2004; 20 years ago (2004-06-26)
Technical
Line length	12 mi (19 km)[2]
Number of tracks	2
Character	Primarily at-grade in separated right of way
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Minimum radius	82 feet (25 m)
Electrification	Overhead line, 750 V DC
Operating speed	55 mph (89 km/h) max 18 mph (29 km/h) average
Route map Legend Bottineau LRT Oak Grove OMF Oak Grove Parkway MN 610 93rd Avenue 85th Avenue Shingle Creek Brooklyn Boulevard Stations and route under revision Southwest LRT to Southwest Target Field   Northstar Line to Big Lake I-394 Warehouse District/Hennepin Avenue Nicollet Mall Orange Line at Marq2 transit corridor Government Plaza U.S. Bank Stadium Downtown fare zone Green Line to Union Depot I-35W Cedar-Riverside I-94 Hiawatha OMF Franklin Avenue MNNR spur line Midtown Greenway Martin Olav Sabo Bridge MN 55 (Hiawatha Ave) Lake Street/Midtown B Line 38th Street 46th Street A Line to Rosedale Minnehaha Parkway Minnehaha Creek 50th Street/Minnehaha Park VA Medical Center MN 62 (Crosstown) Fort Snelling Fort Snelling pocket track Terminal 1–Lindbergh Free 24-hour operation between terminals Terminal 2–Humphrey I-494 / MN 5 American Boulevard Bloomington Central 30th Avenue Mall of America D Line to BCTC and Red Line to Apple Valley All stations are accessible This diagram: view talk edit

The Metro Blue Line is a 12-mile (19.3 km)^[2] light rail line in Hennepin County, Minnesota, that is part of the Metro network. It travels from downtown Minneapolis to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and the southern suburb of Bloomington. Formerly the Hiawatha Line (Route 55) prior to May 2013,^[3] the line was originally named after the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha passenger train and Hiawatha Avenue, reusing infrastructure from the former and running parallel to the latter for a portion of the route. The line opened June 26, 2004, and was the first light rail service in Minnesota. An extension, Bottineau LRT, is planned to open in 2028.

The Blue Line is operated by Metro Transit, the primary bus and train operator in the Twin Cities. As of December 2022, the service operates from approximately 3:19 am to 12:50 am with 15‑minute headways most of the day.^[4] The route averaged 32,928 daily riders in 2019, representing 13 percent of Metro Transit's ridership.^[5][6] The line carried 10.6 million riders in 2015.^[1]

In South Minneapolis, several bus routes converge at transit centers along the line, offering connections to other Metro lines and frequent bus routes. The line has two park and ride stations at Fort Snelling and 30th Avenue stations, with a combined capacity of 2,569 vehicles.^[7] Major destinations along the corridor include downtown Minneapolis, Lake Street, Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, and the Mall of America. At the airport, the Blue Line provides free, 24/7 service between Lindbergh and Humphrey terminals. An night owl shuttle train, the Airport Shuttle, runs between terminals during times when no Blue Line service is scheduled.^[8]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Metro Blue Line" Minnesota – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Minneapolis–St. Paul area once had an extensive network of streetcars (operated for many years by Twin City Rapid Transit, a precursor of Metro Transit), but the tracks were removed and services were eliminated in the 1950s.

Over the years since the last trolley ran in 1954, many people have pushed for the reintroduction of rail transport in the Twin Cities. Proposals for a modern streetcar or light rail along the Hiawatha Avenue corridor appeared in the pages of the Star Tribune as early as 1974.^[9] The primary reason is that traffic congestion has grown considerably since the streetcar system ceased operation: a 2003 report by the Texas Transportation Institute indicated that the area was the 17th most congested area in the country, with the second fastest congestion growth.

Rail projects struggled to gain political support until the 1990s, when several factors combined to make the idea more palatable. Governor Jesse Ventura and Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg heavily promoted the idea of rail transport, and significant amounts of money became available from the federal government. Previous governors had advocated light rail, but had not been able to get legislation passed. Governor Tim Pawlenty had campaigned on a promise to fight the expansion of light rail, but altered his opinions after taking office. He also initially opposed the Northstar Line commuter rail project, which is a rail corridor north of Minneapolis, but changed his mind about that project in January 2004 when a scaled-back version was shown to have good potential.^[10]

For many,^[who?] the Hiawatha Avenue corridor was not the top choice for a new project. Popular other options included connecting Minneapolis with the western suburbs, though probably the most-desired option has been the Central Corridor connecting the Twin Cities themselves (Minneapolis and St. Paul) with a route down the middle of Interstate 94 or University Avenue. However, much of the land had already been acquired by the state in the 1960s to build a sunken radial expressway into downtown that was never built. In addition to the available land, the desire to connect to the airport and at least reach the vicinity of the Mall of America proved to be the bigger draw for decision-makers.^[11]

The idea of running a rail line down Hiawatha Avenue had already been around for at least a decade by the time the decision was made to go forward. In 1985, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) had produced an Environmental Impact Statement that concluded that light rail was the best alternative for the corridor.^[12] In 1996, the document was examined again as Mn/DOT looked at the possibility of adding bus rapid transit along the road, but money for light rail became available soon after, leading to the current layout.

The line's cost totaled $715.3 million, with $334.3 million coming from the federal government.^[13] This is considerably higher than initial budgets predicted—the figure was about $400 million in 1997. Opponents to the rail line state that it went far over-budget, but supporters of the line state that extensions of the route and other alterations, plus the impact of inflation, are the real reasons for the increased cost. Initial designs cut out the last stop in downtown, and the southern end of the line did not quite connect to the Mall of America. The Warehouse District stop was added early but another cost increase came from approximately $40 million to enhance the line (while construction was in progress) to bring the line directly into the Mall of America's transit hub. It was completed later than what was initially hoped for (a lot of literature points to 2003 as the opening year), but the mall connection was a significant contribution to the extra time requirements. These extensions are also why the line was initially reported to be 11.6 miles (18.7 km) long, but ended up being 12 miles (19 km) in length. The Target Field extension in 2009 added a few more tenths to the length. Groundbreaking for the line took place on January 17, 2001.

In March 2004, the labor union representing Metro Transit bus workers went on strike. This delayed the opening of the line from the anticipated start date of April 3, although there was some indication that the opening would have been delayed anyway. Apparently, some of the delay had to do with slow delivery of trainsets from Bombardier. Certain aspects of the design had been tried before, but the cars were the first to combine the factors of conforming to American standards (as opposed to European), having low floors and being built at the company's Mexico plant. Some problems also cropped up during testing of the vehicles, but Bombardier said that the issues were not out of the ordinary.

When the buses began rolling again on April 19, the line's opening was rolled back to June 26. Testing of the track and vehicles continued during the bus strike, as much of the work was performed by Bombardier employees rather than Metro Transit workers. Train operators who had already gone through the training process were given refresher courses when the strike ended. Regular service began on the first phase of the line on June 26, 2004, with the second phase opening later that year on December 4. Each opening was accompanied with two days of free rides on the train and area buses. The line was tested for months before opening, with regular service simulated for about a month before each phase went online. The Hiawatha Line opened exactly 50 years and one week after the last regular-service streetcars ran in the city.

Light rail staff, security, and volunteers produced a largely hitch-free opening day for the new rail system on June 26, 2004.^[14] Officials estimated 30,000 people boarded the electric-powered trains during the transit system's first day of service. Train rides were free. Each station featured live entertainment and food as a diversion for the long waits to board the trains. Predicted daily ridership was 19,300 for 2005 and 24,600 for 2020.

Busways are still being examined for many future projects and it appears likely that at least one will be built. Construction of the area's second light rail line, the Green Line connecting downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul began in late 2010 and opened on June 14, 2014. On April 26, 2011, the U.S. government announced $478 million in funding for its construction.^[15]

During Super Bowl LII on February 4, 2018, hosted at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Blue Line was restricted to ticketholders and ran with non-stop service between a security checkpoint at the Mall of America and the stadium station. Service at other stations was replaced with free shuttle buses.^[16][17]

In July 2011, the Metropolitan Council officially approved renaming the Hiawatha Line as the Blue Line. This is part of a broader color scheme for identifying Twin Cities transit lines, including the Green Line light rail to St. Paul, the Orange Line bus rapid transit along I-35W, and the operational Red Line bus rapid transit service along Cedar Avenue.^[18] The name officially changed on Friday, May 17, 2013.^[19]

Starting July 8, 2022, in a planned 5 week project, the Blue line shut down 5 stops from Mall of America to Airport Terminal 2 for the 'Largest construction project in the light rail line's history.' According to Metro Transit, the project consists of replacing sections of tracks that "have worn out and upgrades technology that guides safety safety systems."

In addition, the updates will also bring safety enhancements and allow trains to switch tracks and turn around near the 30th Avenue Station, which will provide more opportunity to keep trains moving if a section of track is taken out of service. Ryan Heath, engineer for Metro Transit who is overseeing the project, said that "this is important for the Blue Line's next 40 years. We're looking out literally decades with an eye toward improving the reliability and maintainability of our system."^[20]

An extension of the line to Brooklyn Park is planned. On August 3, 2020, after years of disagreements with The Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway Company regarding use of BNSF's right-of-way, Metropolitan Council announced they would begin to "explore opportunities to advance this critical project without using BNSF Railway right of way."^[21] Current plans call for the Blue Line Extension to run west from Target Field to Lyndale Avenue, then through north Minneapolis via Lyndale Avenue, West Broadway Avenue, and Bottineau Boulevard, until it meets the originally planned route near 73rd Avenue and West Broadway.^[22]

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Blue_Line_(Minnesota)
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