Wasn't it called the North Star in the Amtrak era?
One reason the "Arrowhead" failed was that it did not connect with any other trains when arrived or departed from Saint Paul during the early 1980s.
I remember when the North Star (Trains 9 & 10) ran as a "shuttle" connecting with the Empire Builder at MSP, and I think before that it was combined with the Builder and ran as one train all the way to Chicago. I'm not sure if it ever provided another frequency between CHI and MSP.
Whatever they get up and running by 2010 or 2012, if at all, it won't be the "High-speed rail" denoted in the headline, and it also won't be the "commuter rail" they call it towards the end of the article.
No. One of the earlier iterations of Duluth- Twin Cities rail service was called the "Arrowhead," and another iteration, during the 1970s, ran all the way through to Chicago and was scheduled as an overnight run between the Head of the Lakes and the Windy City. The name switched back and forth between "North Star" and "Arrowhead." The original reason for the train may have been because the Interstate Highway System was not completed to Duluth,MN & Superior, WI, until 1985. Service was cut back to MSP-DUD in 1981, before being discontinued in 1985. (Source: Twin Ports Railroad and Railfan page, link here .)
According to at least one obscure source, the 1980s iteration of the train departed Saint Paul at 10:30 am each morning, meaning that the connection with Chicago was broken, and the only real connection that the train had with the rest of the National System was to and from the Empire Builder from the West.
See this link as well: North Star at Everything2 dot com. This link provides two examples of historic schedules, and compares them side-by-side.
Edited by WICT106, 16 November 2007 - 07:08 AM.