Metro Blue Line (Minnesota)

Metro Blue Line
Blue Line light rail in downtown Minneapolis
Overview
Locale	Minneapolis–St. Paul
Termini	Target Field (north) Mall of America (south)
Stations	19 open, 10 proposed
Website	Metro Blue Line
Service
Type	Light rail
System	Metro
Route number	901
Operator(s)	Metro Transit
Rolling stock	Bombardier LF-70 or Siemens S70 and S700 3-car trains (typical, maximum)
Daily ridership	31,471 (avg. weekday, 2015)[1]
History
Opened	June 26, 2004; 20 years ago (2004-06-26)
Technical
Line length	12 mi (19 km)[2]
Number of tracks	2
Character	Primarily at-grade in separated right of way
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Minimum radius	82 feet (25 m)
Electrification	Overhead line, 750 V DC
Operating speed	55 mph (89 km/h) max 18 mph (29 km/h) average
Route map Legend Bottineau LRT Oak Grove OMF Oak Grove Parkway MN 610 93rd Avenue 85th Avenue Shingle Creek Brooklyn Boulevard Stations and route under revision Southwest LRT to Southwest Target Field Northstar Line to Big Lake I-394 Warehouse District/Hennepin Avenue Nicollet Mall Orange Line at Marq2 transit corridor Government Plaza U.S. Bank Stadium Downtown fare zone Green Line to Union Depot I-35W Cedar-Riverside I-94 Hiawatha OMF Franklin Avenue MNNR spur line Midtown Greenway Martin Olav Sabo Bridge MN 55 (Hiawatha Ave) Lake Street/Midtown B Line 38th Street 46th Street A Line to Rosedale Minnehaha Parkway Minnehaha Creek 50th Street/Minnehaha Park VA Medical Center MN 62 (Crosstown) Fort Snelling Fort Snelling pocket track Terminal 1–Lindbergh Free 24-hour operation between terminals Terminal 2–Humphrey I-494 / MN 5 American Boulevard Bloomington Central 30th Avenue Mall of America D Line and Red Line to BCTC and Apple Valley All stations are accessible This diagram: view talk edit

The Metro Blue Line is a 12-mile (19.3 km)^[2] light rail line in Hennepin County, Minnesota, that is part of the Metro network. It travels from downtown Minneapolis to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and the southern suburb of Bloomington. Formerly the Hiawatha Line (Route 55) prior to May 2013,^[3] the line was originally named after the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha passenger train and Hiawatha Avenue, reusing infrastructure from the former and running parallel to the latter for a portion of the route. The line opened June 26, 2004, and was the first light rail service in Minnesota. An extension, Bottineau LRT, is planned to open in 2028.

The Blue Line is operated by Metro Transit, the primary bus and train operator in the Twin Cities. As of December 2022, the service operates from approximately 3:19 am to 12:50 am with 15‑minute headways most of the day.^[4] The route averaged 32,928 daily riders in 2019, representing 13 percent of Metro Transit's ridership.^[5][6] The line carried 10.6 million riders in 2015.^[1]

In South Minneapolis, several bus routes converge at transit centers along the line, offering connections to other Metro lines and frequent bus routes. The line has two park and ride stations, the Fort Snelling and 30th Avenue stations, with a combined capacity of 2,569 vehicles.^[7] Major destinations along the corridor include downtown Minneapolis, Lake Street, Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, and the Mall of America. At the airport, the Blue Line provides free, 24/7 service between Lindbergh and Humphrey terminals. A night owl shuttle train, the Airport Shuttle, runs between terminals during times when no Blue Line service is scheduled.^[8]