Yesterday was the first day for the “Northstar” commuter rail service.<\/p>\n
Now, commuter rail is one of those areas where I break with some of my conservative friends – with a big, red asterisk.\u00a0 Unlike Light Rail, which is a pretty universal money pit, Commuter Rail – heavy cars using existing right of way and rails – is relatively <\/em>inexpensive.\u00a0 The forty mile Northstar cost less than half of what the seven mile Ventura Trolley did, and is currently coming around a quarter of the ludicrous, city-destroying Central Corridor’s price tag at the moment<\/em>.\u00a0 Had the Met Council opted to buy used rolling stock (cars and locomotives) and build its stations on the cheap, and had gas prices remained high and pumped up the ridership, the Northstar could have hypothetically been revenue-neutral and self-supporting in relatively short order.\u00a0 Which, for a government program, ain’t chicken feed…<\/p>\n …provided you get all those “ifs” out of the way.\u00a0 The Met bought new rolling stock (enh) and as always used the stations as an excuse to subsidize local artists, and the price came in a good third higher than it might have.<\/p>\n Still, for those who are trying for whatever reason to recalibrate their lives around the shiny new toy, madness awaits:<\/a><\/p>\n Trains were on time — the first one arrived three minutes early — but the first day was not entirely free of glitches. At Target Field, the doors of the 7:10 a.m. train didn’t open for a few minutes, so its more than 300 passengers were stuck inside. Once they made their way upstairs to the Hiawatha station, light rail wasn’t there to greet them because of a mechanical problem. A replacement Hiawatha train left the station at 7:25.<\/p>\n During the afternoon rush, there were some frantic dashes for closing doors, some doorway stumbles and even a few people who missed trains and had to wait for the next one. Only one person missed the final train, arriving at Target Field two minutes late on a connecting light-rail transit train.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n