Minnesota High-Speed Rail Project 'Effectively Dead' After Funding Change

Newsweek

20-05-2025

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Plans for a high-speed passenger service between the Twin Cities and Duluth have run out of steam after the Minnesota Legislature voted to redirect $77 million in funding from the Northern Lights Express rail project.
The decision was finalized when state lawmakers approved HF1143, a bill channeling those funds into unemployment insurance for hourly school employees during summer months.
Newsweek contacted the Minnesota Transport Department for more information via email outside normal working hours.
Why It Matters
The bill's passage is a huge shift in Minnesota's transportation and budget priorities, de facto ending a years-long push for expanded passenger rail in the region. It comes as many other high-speed rail projects across the U.S. face funding issues and higher scrutiny from the Trump administration.
What To Know
The approved bill, HF1143, allocated $100 million for summer unemployment aid to part-time hourly school workers.
The Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) lawmakers and Education Minnesota union advocated for this move, noting the need to support education employees who lose income when school is not in session, local outlet Alpha News reported.
Republican House leaders negotiated that $77 million from previously committed funds to the Northern Lights Express high-speed rail should be used to fund the school worker scheme.
A proposed map of the Northern Lights Express, from the Minnesota Transportation Department.
A proposed map of the Northern Lights Express, from the Minnesota Transportation Department.
Minnesota Transportation Department
The Minnesota House passed the bill unanimously (131-0) late Friday, followed by a 44-23 Senate vote. Republican senators opposed the reallocation, describing it as "shifts and gimmicks" in the legislative process.
The Northern Lights Express, a proposed four-round-trip-per-day passenger train using BNSF tracks between Minneapolis and Duluth, was approved for nearly $195 million in state funds in 2023.
The new funding cut leaves about $108 million remaining in state rail project funds, but House Transportation Committee Chair Representative Jon Koznick, a Republican, said the funding shift means the project is "effectively dead."
What People Are Saying
House Transportation Committee Chair Representative Jon Koznick, a Republican, told Alpha News on Monday: "For years, Democrats have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on wasteful rail projects that Minnesotans barely use and can't afford. With the House and Senate voting to shift a significant amount of the state's share of the project's funding, the Northern Lights Express train is effectively dead, and taxpayers are better off because of it."
Republican Senator Jason Rarick said to Alpha News on Monday: "I think taking this money that came from the transportation realm to here and without actually going through the education committee and going through the transportation committee to have this discussion and having it part of the [budget] targets for consideration of either one, I don't believe this is the right way to go about doing this.
"What we should be doing here is sending this money to the general fund and allocating in the [budget] targets to the committee to bring it in and then have it be a part of the committee's omnibus bill."
What Happens Next
The bill is now awaiting signature by Governor Tim Walz. With the reallocation of funds, the Northern Lights Express rail project's future appears stalled, while state lawmakers are expected to continue discussions on permanent unemployment support for school workers and the direction of Minnesota's transportation priorities.