Service
Hiawatha Line Light Rail staff, security, and volunteers produced a largely hitch-free opening day for the new rail system on June 26, 2004. Officials estimated 30,000 people boarded the electric-powered trains during the transit system's first day of service. Train rides were free. Each station featured live entertainment and food as a diversion for the long waits to board the trains.
Passengers who ride the rail system are ordinarily charged the same fare as they would pay for the local Metro Transit bus system, and they are able to use their bus transfer cards to switch between the two different modes of transportation without making another payment. A new payment system using smart cards (known as Go-To Cards) was initially expected to be introduced along with the rail line in June 2004, but software bugs delayed introduction. As of September 2006, the bugs have been worked out and the Go-To Cards are now operational.
In basic service, trains operate every 10 minutes, though rush hour sees one train every 7½ minutes, and late-night operation once every half hour. The line shuts down for about four hours each night, except for a shuttle service between the two terminals at the MSP airport. Vehicles have a capacity of 66 seated passengers and 120 standing. Currently two or three vehicles are linked together to increase capacity. Predicted daily ridership was 19,300 for 2005 and 24,600 for 2020.
The line is named for Hiawatha Avenue, also known as Minnesota State Highway 55, which runs parallel to the train tracks for much of its distance. The line also runs for a few miles on the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Short Line roadbed which brought Hiawatha passenger trains into their downtown depot. To integrate the light rail route with the rest of the area bus system, it was also given the name Route 55. In extremely heavy travel periods and when the rail line is out of service for any reason, buses use that route number. Before the second phase had been completed, a temporary bus line known as Route 155 provided a link to some destinations south of the Fort Snelling station.
Significant effort has gone into creating artwork for the different rail stations. In the months after the line first started, a number of small audio and video playback devices were installed in the stations, to provide amusement and topics for discussion among travelers waiting for the train.
There are two stretches where tunnels are used on the line. A short tunnel parallel to Hiawatha Avenue travels under Minnehaha Parkway just north of the 50th Street station. At the airport, twin tunnels (one each for the northbound and southbound trains) go underground for 1.7 miles (2.7 km) to reach the Lindbergh Terminal station, the only stop that is totally underground—70 feet (21.3 m) below the surface. Trains return to the surface as they near Humphrey Terminal. Some of the sections under the airport required the use of a tunnel boring machine.
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