With stations to be constructed, a contract needed to build new coaches and locomotives to be bought, Tim Yantos, Mary Richardson and Ken Stevens have a clear idea where the Northstar commuter rail line is headed.
But as the engine that has driven this train for more than a decade, the three want to make sure the $320 million project remains on its original track. That's why Richardson, the St. Paul attorney who put together a joint-powers agreement in 1996 to make Northstar possible, refers to the 40-mile line from Minneapolis to Big Lake as "an interim step."
"We'd like to see an extension to St. Cloud and another extension to Cambridge," said Yantos, executive director of the Northstar corridor project.
Stevens, a retired Hennepin County official who serves as the project's oversite consultant, added: "There were so many times we said, 'This project could be dead tomorrow.' It's very much alive now and there's no reason to stop in Big Lake."
Northstar, which received $156.8 million in federal funding this month, is on line to open in 2009. But Stevens warns that funding sources for transit must continue to be developed on community and state levels if the line is to realize its potential.
Funding from more than 30 cities along or near the line, plus money from rail authorities in Hennepin, Anoka and Sherburne counties will be needed to extend Northstar to St. Cloud, Stevens said.
Yantos, who was once told that putting together a 40-mile light-rail system would be too expensive, agreed.
"The savings of time and fuel, the elimination of congestion on the roads, and the positive impact on the environment by moving large groups of people with a single engine show how cost-effective a commuter rail line will be," Yantos said. "I'd love to see those savings go beyond Big Lake."