Minneapolis Southwest light rail approaches completion

The Mid-west US city of Minneapolis is extending its light rail Green Llne by building a 14.5-mile (23.3km) extension to link the centre of the city (Target Field) through the south-west suburbs to Eden Prairie in Hennepin County. Work on the USD 3bn project started in December 2018, using in part an existing railway alignment, the Kenilworth corridor, used by four freight trains each day. The LRT then uses a new tunnel, where construction problems are part of the reason for cost over-runs. Co-running with the railway has required Metro Transit to take out a USD 300M insurance policy against the consequences of any derailments of LRT or trains. The project is receiving USD 969.2M in federal funding. 

 

The project is now 85% complete and on 14 October the first six of 27 Siemens S700 LRVs were moved to the line’s depot to permit the inauguration of live testing. This will gradually be extended until LRVs can reach central Minneapolis. It is unlikely that regular passenger service will start until 2027. 

 

The light rail system serving the twin cities of Minneapolis-St Paul consists of Bel and Green lines carrying about 15.5M passengers year. Service on the Blue Line started in 2004 using 27 Bombardier Flexity Swift. The fleet was boosted by 64 Siemens S70 Avanto LRVs before the Green Line opened in 2014.