Anoka station is a

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

station in

Anoka, Minnesota Anoka ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Anoka County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 17,142 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Anoka is the "Halloween Capital of the World" because it hosted one of the first Hal ...

, located at 2718 4th Avenue. It is served by the Northstar Commuter Rail line. The station features bicycle lockers and two park and ride lots. The north lot has 181 spaces and the south lot has 196 spaces, with a total capacity of 377 vehicles. The commute time to downtown Minneapolis from this station is about 32 minutes. In 2012, the weekday fare to downtown Minneapolis from this station was $3.00. The fare to and from any other station also was $3.00 on weekdays. In 2022, the weekday fares still were $3.00 to downtown Minneapolis and $3.00 to any other station.

History

The doubled tracked main line for the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous rail transport, railroad trackage that crosses a continent, continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks may be via the Ra ...

travels through Anoka after leaving Minneapolis. It runs parallel to the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. The former

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...

and Great Northern Railway parallel main lines form this double track main. Anoka had been served by a station at what is now North Street and North 8th Avenue, the Great Northern Anoka Depot. This depot was designed by noted architect

Cass Gilbert Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of Early skyscrapers, skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minneso ...

, and was roughly 4 blocks east of the current platform. This structure was razed in 1993. The Minneapolis, Anoka and Cuyuna Range Railway, whose tracks ran along East River Road, also served Anoka. Northern Pacific had four local trains each way serving Anoka in 1921. The last passenger trains that stopped at Anoka, the Northern Pacific 3 & 4 trains, were discontinued in 1967.INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION REPORT. NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY CO DISCONTINUANCE OF TRAINS NO 3 AND 4 BETWEEN ST. PAUL, MINN AND JAMESTOWN N. DAK, Deeded September 27, 1967

Notes

External links

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Anoka Station, Northstar Corridor Development Authority (NCDA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anoka (Metro Transit Station) Northstar Line stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 2009 Railway stations in Anoka County, Minnesota 2009 establishments in Minnesota Anoka, Minnesota Former Great Northern Railway (U.S.) stations