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The
Hiawatha Line
The route is named for Hiawatha Avenue which
the line follows for much of its journey and extends 12.1 miles
from the downtown warehouse district of Minneapolis to the Mall
of America connecting with The Minneapolis Airports Lindberg
and Humphrey terminals. The first stage of the line was opened
for public service on June 26th 2004 as far as Fort Snelling.
The full length of the line to the MOA was opened in December
of the same year. Both the opening of the line to Fort Snelling
and opening of the full line was celebrated by two days of free
travel on Metro Transit. The Line has 17 stations along the route
and typically the journey time between each station is 2 - 4
minutes. Though the lines construction was marked by scepticism
and doubt, the sucess of the line in terms of ridership has done
much to silence the critics. So much so that a couple of extensions
to the line are proposed. Firstly, the line will be extended
a couple of blocks at the northern end to the site of the new
Minnesota Twins baseball stadium. This will aslo allow it to
make a connection with the forthcoming North Star commuter line
from Big Lake and Elk River. A plan is also in the pipeline to
extend the line south from the Mall of America to the suburb
of Lakeville.
On the way
- More details and scenes from the line
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The
Tramcars
The Hiawatha Line uses Flexity
Swift Trams made by Bombardier Transport. Powered from an overhead
line they are capable of reaching speeds approaching 55mph (of
that I can confirm having been seated behind the driver and peered
through the blinds.) Though in normal service the top speed is
40mph on the reserved track beyond the Metrodome. Of course,
in the downtown where the trams share the road speeds are much
slower. The trams are quiet, smooth in operation and accelerate
very well. The design is known as a 70% low floor design. That
means that 70% of the cars floor is about 14" from the ground.
This means they are level with the platform surfaces which allows
for easy access for the elderly, infirm and those in wheelchairs.
This is also advantageous for cyclists as there are cycle racks
inside the cars should a cyclist start or finish his trip on
the Light Rail. The Hiawatha line is the first line in the USA
to use the Flexity Swift design. Twenty four of which were originally
ordered. The Hiawatha version of the Swift car differs slightly
from the usual design in that the nose is more curved and there
also appears to be some kind of small snow plough at the front
too.
A photographic
study of the roster of the lines tramcars will be appearing here
in t\he near future
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Coming
Soon for the Twin Cities? The Central Corridor Line
The next major step for Metro
Transit is the construction of the Central Corridor line between
the downtowns of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Preliminary engineering
work is taking place now with construction expected to start
in 2010 and completion scheduled for 2014. The Line will start
at the future multi modal station by the new Minnesota Twins
Baseball stadium and will share the Hiawatha line rails as far
as the Metrodome. From there it will branch off northwards crossing
the Mississippi before following University and Washington avenues
heading to Saint Paul where it is planned to finish at the Union
Depot. The line will be about 11 miles long. |
