MN House, Senate Pass ‘Northern Lights Express’ Funding In Transportation Bills

DULUTH, Minn. — For the first time ever, the Northern Lights Express project now has financial backing from the Minnesota House and the Senate.

The Senate has approved $50 million toward the passenger rail service between the Twin Ports and Minneapolis.

This comes after the House Transportation Committee set aside full funding for NLX in its omnibus bill and was passed by the House.

The House’s amount is $194,300,000, which is the state’s 20-percent share of the project.

The remaining 80 percent would come from the federal Infrastructure Law, which Amtrak has officially endorsed.

Both bills now head to conference committees for negotiations before Gov. Tim Walz’s desk.

Walz supports funding the project, which comes at a time when the state has a roughly $17 million surplus.