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Minnesota Department of Transportation
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- Type
- State DOT — State department of transportation; sponsor of Minnesota's intercity passenger rail corridors, administrator of the Minnesota Rail Service Improvement freight rail programme and the state's highway-rail grade crossing authority
- Market · Region
- United States · Minnesota
- Open tenders
- 0
- Technology areas
- Track & civil, Signalling & train control, Rolling-stock hardware, Digital operations
Minnesota DOT sponsors Northern Lights Express and Borealis services, runs freight rail grants program.
About this buyer
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Sponsors the Northern Lights Express Minneapolis-Duluth corridor, which sits in the FRA's Corridor Identification and Development Program at a MnDOT cost estimate of $718.9 million; is the Minnesota partner in the Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago project behind the Borealis service that began on 21 May 2024; adopted the updated Minnesota State Rail Plan in May 2026; runs the Minnesota Rail Service Improvement Program of freight rail grants and no-interest loans; and coordinates rail crossing safety for more than 4,500 public highway-rail grade crossings.
- Type
- State DOT — State department of transportation; sponsor of Minnesota's intercity passenger rail corridors, administrator of the Minnesota Rail Service Improvement freight rail programme and the state's highway-rail grade crossing authority
- Where
- Minnesota · Saint Paul
- Programmes
- IIJA / Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
- Technology areas
- Track & civil, Signalling & train control, Rolling-stock hardware, Digital operations
Structure
- operated by Met Council — Contracted operator to MnDOT of the Northstar replacement commuter express bus service to Big Lake and Elk River under joint powers agreement 25I100 (active · since 2025-10-22)
- has member RCRRA — Named by MnDOT among the partners in the Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago passenger rail project (active)
- Contract detail and values (2)In the United States edition See a fully open example
Sources for these relationships (5)
- ● Metropolitan Council · Business Item 2025-178 — Northstar Commuter Rail Suspension and Replacement Service Plan; Metropolitan Council meeting of 2025-08-27. The Council's own decision record for suspending Northstar, with the ridership, subsidy-per-ride and operating-budget figures and the BNSF contract restriction. (published 2025-08-27 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Metropolitan Council · Business Item 2025-256 — Northstar Replacement Service – Big Lake and Elk River, Contract 25I100; Metropolitan Council meeting of 2025-10-22. Joint powers agreement with MnDOT for the Council to operate commuter express bus service outside its statutory service area at no net cost to the Council. (published 2025-10-22 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Minnesota Department of Transportation · Borealis — daily St. Paul–Milwaukee–Chicago round trip begun 21 May 2024 over part of the 411-mile Empire Builder corridor; capital funding of a $31.8 million FRA CRISI grant of September 2020 with $5 million from Amtrak, $11.8 million from MnDOT and $6.5 million from WisDOT; operating support of a $12.6 million FRA Restoration & Enhancement grant of May 2020 and a second of $38.6 million in January 2025; project schedule with final design 2021-2026 and construction 2026-2028 (published 2026 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Ramsey County · Railroad & Housing Authorities - the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners' own page (HTML, 9,184 bytes on 14 September 2026 to a plain curl). Publishes the Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority's mandate ('established as a separate government unit that works on various transit and transit-oriented development projects... Organized under Minnesota Statute 398, it is considered a separate taxing district from Ramsey County'), its composition as the seven members of the County Board, its meeting archive and the Board of Commissioners' contact desk Ramsey County publishes no budget document for the authority on this page, and the county's own site search is rendered client-side and returns no results to curl, so no budget or levy figure is carried for the Ramsey authority. (published 2026 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Office of the Revisor of Statutes, State of Minnesota · 2025 Minnesota Statutes section 398A.04, Powers of a regional railroad authority: subdivision 1(4) empowers an authority to 'make grants or otherwise appropriate funds to the Department of Transportation, the Metropolitan Council, or any other state or local governmental unit' for railroad purposes within its jurisdiction; subdivision 2 empowers it to plan, acquire, construct, maintain and operate railroads and railroad facilities, and bars it from expending state or federal funds on light rail or commuter rail planning or development except consistently with plans adopted under sections 174.84 and 473.399 and under a memorandum of understanding with the commissioner (published 2025 · checked 2026-09-14)
Tenders
| Tender | Status | Value band | Next key date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Lights Express Minneapolis-Duluth rail | Planned | $500m–1bn | |
| Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago Borealis service | Planned | $25–100m | Target 2026 |
Withheld in the free surface
- Procurement structure
- Published contacts (3)
- Award history (4)
- Entry path
- Portals (4)
Full detail withheld: 5 fields. In the United States edition · See a fully open example
14 sources · all primary
- ● Minnesota Department of Transportation · Passenger rail in Minnesota: existing intercity services Borealis and Empire Builder; 'Northstar commuter rail service was suspended by Metro Transit effective Jan. 5, 2026. In its place, Metro Transit is operating an expanded bus service'; current studies including the Twin Cities-Duluth/Superior Corridor (published 2026 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Minnesota Department of Transportation · Northern Lights Express — approximately 152 miles of existing track owned by BNSF Railway between Minneapolis and Duluth; accepted into the FRA Corridor Identification and Development Program in December 2023, Step 1 grant obligated March 2024, final Step 1 deliverables accepted by FRA in March 2025, awaiting a Step 2 grant (published 2026 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Minnesota Department of Transportation · Northern Lights Express frequently asked questions — 'The most recent cost estimate is $718.9 million. This number is based on capital improvements that were identified in 2017. The estimate is based on a MnDOT analysis and did not include input from partners, such as the host railroad.'; May 2023 legislative appropriation of $194.7 million and the May 2025 shift of $77.232 million away from the project; $500,000 of CIDP funds received; four round trips a day at up to 90 mph with new stations at Coon Rapids, Cambridge, Hinckley and Superior, Wisconsin; 80 per cent federal and 20 per cent state funding (published 2026 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Minnesota Department of Transportation · Borealis — daily St. Paul–Milwaukee–Chicago round trip begun 21 May 2024 over part of the 411-mile Empire Builder corridor; capital funding of a $31.8 million FRA CRISI grant of September 2020 with $5 million from Amtrak, $11.8 million from MnDOT and $6.5 million from WisDOT; operating support of a $12.6 million FRA Restoration & Enhancement grant of May 2020 and a second of $38.6 million in January 2025; project schedule with final design 2021-2026 and construction 2026-2028 (published 2026 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Minnesota Department of Transportation · Freight Railroads — MnDOT coordinates rail crossing safety, trunk highway projects and rail regulatory activities for more than 4,500 public highway-rail grade crossings throughout Minnesota; 'In May 2026, MnDOT adopted the updated Minnesota State Rail Plan' (published 2026 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Minnesota Department of Transportation · Minnesota State Rail Plan — 'In May 2026, MnDOT released the updated Minnesota State Rail Plan', part of the Minnesota GO 50-Year Vision for Transportation, providing direction for freight and passenger railroads over the next two decades (published 2026-05 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Minnesota Department of Transportation · Minnesota Rail Service Improvement Program — established in 1976; provides grants for freight rail service improvement projects and ongoing no-interest loans for capital improvements, rail line rehabilitation and rail purchase assistance (published 2026 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Minnesota Department of Transportation · MRSI grant page — 'Minnesota Legislative Update (June 2026): The MRSI Program did not receive new funding in the 2026 legislative session. MnDOT is not planning a grant solicitation for 2026.'; the 2025 solicitation made up to $4.5 million available, being $1 million in new bond funding approved in the 2025 legislative special session and $3.5 million in bond funding reallocated from previous projects, and closed on 9 January 2026 (published 2026-06 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Minnesota Department of Transportation · Bid Letting — all bids must be submitted electronically via Bid Express; contract award and contract approval are made electronically via Bid Express; a SWIFT vendor number is required (published 2026 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Minnesota Department of Transportation · MnDOT project advertisements — the letting site listing MnDOT highway construction and maintenance projects currently advertised for bidding, by letting date and district (HTTP 200, 11,629 bytes). The letting-date postback is served to curl when the POST carries the page's own __VIEWSTATE, __VIEWSTATEGENERATOR, __VIEWSTATEENCRYPTED and __EVENTVALIDATION, the two select values and the submit button ctl00$MainContent$btnAdvert, and no __EVENTTARGET; all four letting dates on the dropdown on 14 September 2026 (09/23, 10/13, 10/28 and 11/10/2026) returned the advertisement table, 15,474 to 24,409 bytes, and none contains a rail-scope project. (published 2026-09 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Minnesota Department of Transportation · 12-month tentative letting schedule (Excel workbook, 3,057,374 bytes; 23 letting sheets from 23 September 2026 to 25 August 2027), giving for every anticipated project the district, state project number, trunk highway, description, length and engineer's estimate (published 2026-09 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Federal Railroad Administration · Corridor ID Program Monthly Obligation Status Report, CID Obligation Status Report_3.31.26_PDFa.pdf (3 pages, 611,403 bytes), 'Last updated: Tuesday March 31, 2026': under New Conventional Rail, Northern Lights Express, corridor sponsor Minnesota DOT, Step 1 obligation date 3/26/2024, Step 1 obligation funds $500,000, with no Step 2 and no Step 3 obligation recorded Read with the full browser header set (HTTP 200, 611,403 bytes); a plain curl is answered HTTP 403. (published 2026-03-31 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Metropolitan Council · Business Item 2025-256 — Northstar Replacement Service – Big Lake and Elk River, Contract 25I100; Metropolitan Council meeting of 2025-10-22. Joint powers agreement with MnDOT for the Council to operate commuter express bus service outside its statutory service area at no net cost to the Council. (published 2025-10-22 · checked 2026-09-14)
- ● Minnesota Office of State Procurement, Department of Administration · Solicitations and Contract Opportunities — the page that publishes the routes: the SWIFT Supplier Portal, the Goods and Services and Professional and Technical posting pages, the Construction Virtual Plan Room and the expiring-contracts list On 14 September 2026 this page answered the mn.gov bot-manager challenge (HTTP 302, 1,246 bytes to validate.perfdrive.com) on four successive curl attempts with the cookie jar carried forward; its content was read in a scripted browser when this file was written, and it is the only page in this register that curl could not reach. (published 2026 · checked 2026-09-14)
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