What To Expect When Taking The Northstar Rail To A Twins Game

After years of tossing around the idea of taking the Northstair Rail from Big Lake to Target Field, my son and I finally did it on Wednesday and it was great!

DEPARTURE

While there is a shuttle bus available from St. Cloud to Big Lake, we chose to drive to Big Lake Station, which is about 41 minutes away from downtown St. Cloud. The parking lot looked really full when we pulled up about 25 minutes before the train's departure, but there were plenty of spaces for all of the vehicles (and parking was free).

The line to get our tickets for the train appeared to be super long as well, but there were multiple kiosks and the line moved pretty quickly. A round trip ticket was $12, which beats the cost of gas and parking at the stadium!

The train itself has two levels with 'pods' of four seats, two on either side facing each other. The upper level has a similar setup and some of the pods have tables and power outlets to plug in laptops/phones. However, there are no USB ports so if you want to charge your phone or other USB device you'll need the adapter as well.

After getting our tickets (about 15 minutes from departure) we went on the train to look for seats. After checking the 'upper' level, which was quite full, we headed down to the bottom.

While we were able to find two seats together, it was clear that they were some of the last ones available. By the time the train left there were a lot of people left standing and there were still five other stops to make (Ramsey, Anoka, Elk River, Coon Rapids and Fridley) before we got to the stadium.

THE RIDE 

The ride itself was smooth and comfortable with air conditioning and free wi-fi available. While some of the journey went through neighborhoods and stockyards, there were some instances of nice scenery as well. There was even a bathroom on board, which was a big relief to my kid, figuratively and literally.

It took just over 45 minutes to get to Minneapolis from Big Lake including stops and one delay near downtown. When we got to Target Field we went up one escalator and were right at the entrance gate.

HEADING BACK 

The game itself started at 12:10 and ended at about 2:45, which left nearly an hour before the first train departure at 3:38. We went down to the station before the ninth inning because my son REALLY wanted to sit in the upper level.

We got to the train station around 2:15 but had to wait for the game to end before the doors to the individual cars were opened. Again, the train to get back was VERY full but it was worth it when we saw all the traffic lined up on Highway 10.

While I will definitely take the Northstar Rail again, there are a few things I will be doing differently. Mostly, I would recommend getting to the station PLENTY early if you want a seat-- maybe pack a book!