Minneapolis Trains

Rail travel in Minneapolis and the broader Twin Cities region spans freight corridors, commuter lines, and an expanding light rail network woven through some of the city's most distinct neighborhoods. The system has grown substantially since 2004, when the original Hiawatha Line opened as the region's first modern light rail route between downtown Minneapolis and the Mall of America.

That original line, now branded the METRO Blue Line, set the foundation for what became a multi-route network operated by Metro Transit. The METRO Green Line followed, connecting Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul, while the Northstar Commuter Rail line launched in 2009 along existing freight corridors to communities northwest of the city. Each route made use of infrastructure that was already present in the landscape — former rail rights-of-way, river crossings, and industrial corridors repurposed for passenger service.

Alongside the passenger network, heavy freight operations continue at facilities like Northtown Yard in North Minneapolis, one of the region's major classification yards, and along BNSF Railway corridors that pass through Northeast Minneapolis near the Mississippi River. Union Depot in St. Paul, a 1923 terminal that sat largely dormant for decades, was restored and reopened in 2012 as a multimodal hub linking light rail, Amtrak, and regional bus service.

The network continues to expand. The Southwest Light Rail Transit project, known as the Green Line Extension, is under construction and will add stations including Bryn Mawr in Minneapolis, extending service further into the western suburbs. Target Field Station in the North Loop serves as the system's central transfer point, where the Blue Line, Green Line, and Northstar trains converge alongside daily bus service.