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The Northstar Line is a commuter rail route in the US state of Minnesota. Northstar runs from Big Lake to downtown Minneapolis at Target Field using existing track and right-of-way owned by the BNSF Railway. Passenger service began on November 16, 2009.〔〔 The rail line serves part of the Northstar Corridor between Minneapolis and St. Cloud. Planning for the line began in 1997 when the Northstar Corridor Development Authority (NCDA) was formed. The corridor is mostly served by Interstate 94 and U.S. Highway 10. ==Background== The route was initially designed to run the full distance between Minneapolis and Rice, Minnesota, near St. Cloud. The project was counting on federal funding for half of its construction costs. The projected ridership for the full route was not high enough to qualify for that much needed federal funding. When the line was first proposed then Governor Jesse Ventura was an early advocate of the Northstar commuter rail line and convinced some people to come around to his point of view.〔http://hometownsource.com/2012/08/21/northstar-remains-high-on-list-of-epic-transportation-battles-at-capitol/〕 Ventura's successor, Governor Tim Pawlenty, did not initially support the project. He changed his mind after MnDOT determined that a scaled-back version of the line would qualify for federal funding. The 2004 Minnesota Legislative session did not pass a bonding bill which meant a lack of funds for initial project work on the proposed Northstar line. Some counties in the area and the Metropolitan Council came up with matching funds to allow funding from the United States federal government to continue. During the 2005 state legislative session a bonding bill including $37.5 million of funding for the proposed project was passed. The bill was signed on April 11, 2005, by Governor Tim Pawlenty at the site of the Riverdale station in Coon Rapids, Minnesota.〔(July 2005), "City Rail briefs", ''Trains Magazine'', p. 29.〕 The 2006 state legislature, along with city, county and federal governments, provided funding to complete the corridor to Big Lake. Construction began on the maintenance facility near Big Lake station and on the Blue Line light rail extension in September 2007, before full funding for the line had been secured.〔 On December 11, 2007, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Thomas Barrett met with Governor Pawlenty in Anoka County and officially signed a Full Funding Grant Agreement of $156.8 million, nearly half of the funding for the $317 million, line from Minneapolis to Big Lake. The money enabled the release of an additional $97.5 million in state bonding money set aside for the project. The federal government paid $156.8 million, the state paid $98.6 million and the Anoka County Regional Rail Authority pledged $34.8 million. The remaining partners were Sherburne County Regional Rail Authority ($8.2 million), Hennepin County Regional Rail Authority ($8 million), the Metropolitan Council ($5.9 million) and the Minnesota Twins ($2.6 million, for the station improvements under the new Target Field where the Minneapolis station was constructed).〔 $107.5 million of the $317 million total went to paying BNSF for a perpetual easement for track rights and facilities along the line and to pay the BNSF employees that operate the trains. Another significant chunk of the cost went into the Blue Line light rail extension. The operating budget for the first full year of service, 2010, was $16.8 million.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Northstar Line」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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