The Twin Cities-Duluth/Superior Corridor, also known as the Northern Lights Express (NLX), is a proposed intercity passenger rail service between Minneapolis and Duluth that will operate on approximately 152 miles of existing tracks owned by BNSF Railway.
Current status and next steps
The figure below is from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). It shows the process for planning, developing, constructing and operating intercity passenger rail projects. It also shows the corresponding FRA funding programs.
The Twin Cities-Duluth/Superior Corridor is currently in the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Corridor Identification and Development Program (CIDP). This is a three-step program that funds project planning (Steps 1 and 2) and project development (Step 3). Step 1 is project scoping. Step 2 is preparing a service development plan. Step 3 is project development, which includes preliminary engineering and an environmental review. The goal of the CIDP program is to get corridors ready to apply for federal funding under other programs for final design and construction.
The Twin Cities-Duluth/Superior Corridor was accepted the corridor into the CIDP program in December 2023. FRA obligated the Step 1 grant for the corridor in March 2024. FRA accepted MnDOT’s final CIDP Step 1 deliverables in March 2025. The next action is for FRA to issue a grant for CIDP Step 2 so MnDOT can prepare the service development plan for the corridor.