The Wayzata Subdivision or Wayzata Sub is a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line that runs about from Willmar to

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. Currently operated by

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 ...

, this was part of the Great Northern Railway's transcontinental line from Minneapolis to

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. Today, BNSF's

Northern Transcon The Northern Transcon, a route operated by the BNSF Railway, traverses the most northerly route of any railroad in the western United States. This route was originally part of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Northern Pacific Railway, ...

travels up the

Staples Subdivision The Staples Subdivision or Staples Sub is a railway line running about from Dilworth to Fridley, Minnesota (near Minneapolis). It is operated by BNSF Railway as part of their Northern Transcon and contains the busiest segment of mainline t ...

instead, which is a more direct route to

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo is the List of cities in North Dakota, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, Cass County. The population was 125,990 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, which was e ...

. West of Target Field station the Wayzata Sub sees about 4-6 trains a day, consisting of manifest, grain, and ethanol traffic. The Wayzata Sub also occasionally sees other commodities such as coal and oil trains, and can sometimes receive intermodal or

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

reroutes when needed. U.S. Highway 12 closely follows the Wayzata Subdivision. At its western end in Willmar, there are connections to the Morris Subdivision to

Breckenridge, Minnesota Breckenridge is a city and county seat of Wilkin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,430 at the 2020 census. Breckenridge's twin city is Wahpeton, North Dakota. It is part of the Wahpeton, ND—MN Micropolitan Statistic ...

and the Marshall Subdivision to

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, Woodbury and Plymouth County, Iowa, Plymouth counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, fo ...

. At Garretson, South Dakota a wye track goes to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The line meets the

Midway Subdivision The Midway Subdivision or Midway Sub is a railway line in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The line is part of BNSF Railway's Northern Transcon which runs from Chicago, Illinois to Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. This is former ...

in Minneapolis at the eastern end. Some Great Northern passenger trains ran along this line, though service was cut back to just the ''

Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is a daily long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great North ...

'' upon the formation of

in 1971. Service to the Minneapolis Great Northern Depot stopped in the late 1978, when trains were shifted to Midway station in

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

. The ''Empire Builder'' changed to its modern routing along the Staples Subdivision in late 1979 when the ''

North Coast Hiawatha The ''North Coast Hiawatha'' was a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington. The train was a successor to the Northern Pacific Railway's '' North Coast Limited'' and '' Mainstreeter'' ...

'' ended service. There wasn't any passenger service on the line from that time until November 2009 when the

Northstar Northstar may refer to: * Polaris, a star Arts and entertainment * Northstar (band), an emo band from Alabama * Northstar (rap group), a rap group affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan * "Northstar", a 2019 song by XXXTentacion from the album '' Bad ...

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 ...

line began operation. The commuter train's southern terminus at Target Field station is at the extreme eastern end of the line. The

Cedar Lake Trail Cedar Lake Trail is a , shared-use path in the U.S. state of Minnesota, from downtown Minneapolis to the neighboring suburb of St. Louis Park. The trail begins at its eastern trailhead in downtown Minneapolis and continues west to Minnesota St ...

bicycle route (and its continuation, the Hutchinson Spur) runs parallel to the Wayzata Sub from St. Louis Park into downtown Minneapolis along former Great Northern and

Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway The Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway (M&StL) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I railroad that built and operated lines radiating south and west from Minneapolis, Minnesota for 90 years from 1870 to 1960. The railway never reached ...

right-of-way. The proposed Southwest Corridor

light-rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features fr ...

line will briefly parallel the Wayzata Subdivision from the vicinity of Lyndale Junction to Cedar Lake Junction. Once in a while, the ''Empire Builder'' today will use the old routing when the Staples Sub is out of service, most recently in February 2022, when a derailment in Frazee, MN caused the train to traverse its original route through Minnesota once again.

References

{{reflist

External links

BNSF Subdivisions
BNSF Railway lines Rail infrastructure in Minnesota