Amtrak Borealis Service Reports 416,000 Riders Chicago St Paul

ST. PAUL, United States – Amtrak’s newly established Borealis passenger rail service has transported more than 416,000 passengers along the Chicago-to-Twin Cities corridor since its launch in May 2024. The line’s first-year ridership reached 212,000 passengers, significantly exceeding the original 2015 feasibility study projection of 155,000 annual riders. This surge has elevated total annual ridership across the wider Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul corridor to approximately 1.8 million passengers.

What Is the Full Scope of This Project?

The Borealis service project adds a second daily round-trip passenger rail connection between Chicago, Illinois, and St. Paul, Minnesota, complementing the pre-existing long-distance Empire Builder route. Operating on tracks owned by host railroad Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), the service departs St. Paul at midday and Chicago in the late morning, with intermediate stops including Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This service expansion leverages the existing Hiawatha corridor infrastructure, which already provides multiple daily round-trips between Chicago and Milwaukee. To support broader regional modernization, Amtrak is also introducing new Siemens-built “Airo” trainsets to its Pacific Northwest Cascades line for testing in late 2025, indicating a broader fleet overhaul that may eventually benefit Midwestern corridors.

Key Project Data

How Does This Compare to Similar Projects?

Mid-distance corridor expansions in the United States face divergent funding environments compared to high-speed rail projects. While the Borealis line achieved immediate ridership success using existing freight infrastructure, the California High-Speed Rail project continues to face severe delivery hurdles, including a $4 billion federal funding reduction and rising estimated costs (Source: Construction Dive, 2025). On a legislative level, a $580 billion surface transportation bill approved by a US House committee guarantees substantial funding for Amtrak’s conventional national network but explicitly prohibits federal grants to California’s high-speed initiative for two years (Source: US House Committee, 2025). Globally, the ridership growth on the Chicago-St. Paul corridor mirrors trends in Europe, where cross-border routes like Munich–Zurich and Frankfurt–Paris have experienced double-digit passenger increases driven by expanded frequencies (Source: Tourism Review, 2025).

Editor’s Analysis

The rapid success of the Borealis service demonstrates that incremental frequency additions on established regional corridors yield higher immediate return on investment than capital-intensive greenfield projects. This model of state-supported, multi-frequency regional service is becoming the primary driver of Amtrak’s ridership recovery, especially as federal policy shifts toward funding proven conventional routes over speculative high-speed infrastructure (Source: Construction Dive, 2025). Consequently, operators are likely to prioritize low-cost track-sharing agreements with freight railroads to quickly expand capacity in dense midwestern and coastal corridors.

FAQ

Q: What is the current ridership of the Amtrak Borealis line?
A: The Borealis line has carried over 416,000 passengers since its launch in May 2024. This performance represents a significant increase over the 155,000 annual passengers originally projected in a 2015 feasibility study.

Q: When will the new Amtrak Cascades Airo trains begin service?
A: The new Amtrak Cascades Airo trainsets are scheduled to arrive in Seattle for testing with the goal of entering revenue service as early as autumn 2025. This deployment is part of Amtrak’s broader fleet modernization initiative.

Q: What was the total capital cost to launch the Borealis service?
A: The exact capital costs and track-access fee agreements between Amtrak and host railroad CPKC were not publicly disclosed. However, the service relies heavily on pre-existing infrastructure along the Hiawatha and Empire Builder routes.