Amtrak’s NEWEST Train: the Borealis

With much fanfare, Amtrak announced the launch of their new service: the Borealis. This is an extension of the Hiawatha north of Milwaukee, sharing its route with the Empire Builder all the way to St. Paul, MN. We found ourselves on one of the first ever services, so find out what it's like to ride Amtrak's newest train.

Trains Are Awesome!

[danielfisher]

I live in the Twin Cities, and my two sons rode the inaugural Borealis! We're SO glad to have another option between St. Paul and Chicago!

[haj]

I know Amtrak has many harsh situations, but it is really favourable to hear that Amtrak is still trying hard and create more services. I think the Midwest still has a lot of potential in terms of intercity rail popularity, probably it can be the second place where intercity trains are most popular right next to the Northeast. I hope this service becomes the first step.

[BrennanZeigler]

It really is sad how much the highways killed the small towns. Hopefully trains like the Borealis will bring life back to those small towns again. Amtrak’s Connects Us map gives me hope for those often neglected small towns

[brucearthur]

I had to drive from Chicago to Minneapolis in the winter once and it took forever. I could have really used this train! I truly believe that point-to-point routes like this between relatively nearby city pairs is the future of passenger rail in North America and I'm glad to see Amtrak going in that direction.

[alexisdespland]

now i need to see a picture of the borealis under the auroura borealis.

[andrew_ray]

I still can't believe Chicago doesn't have level boarding. It's just wild to me that such a major accessibility feature is exclusive to the northeast.

[pacificostudios]

The best advantage of the Borealis is that it won't be delayed while crossing WA, ID, MT, and ND. I've seen the Builder up to 6 hours late, making for dicey connections to trains headed east or south from Chicago. In fact, the Borealis only runs a couple hours off the Empire Builder schedule. I'd choose the Builder if you are going westbound.

[SpithVideo]

21:47 “thank you for choosing the uh … whatever this one is … The Borealis?” I love Amtrak employees so much. So many of them are just personality plus 😊

[sammymarrco]

Fastest editor in the west! Solid video as always, the OG Thom in the mid west series intro gave me some flashbacks I didnt expect to have. I hope to ride a first service at some point!

[philanderson]

My wife and I rode the CascsdeTalgo train from Portland to Olympia, Washington and I was REALLY IMPRESSED by it. Clean, roomy, comfotable and the food sevices was very tasty and efficient. I would suggest that tis type of equipment would be ideal for trains like the Borealis and others with milesge runs of about the same distance. No getting around it, the present equipment will eventually need to be replaced or upgraded.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

Such a cool place Columbus, Wisconsin is! That antique mall is insane, love their collection of model trains! And cheese curds is love, cheese curds is life! As mentioned, the service was originally gonna be called the Great River, which not only references the Mississippi River, but also honored indigenous heritage since the word Mississippi comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi which means "Great River". The original Milwaukee Road Hiawatha fleet in turn was named after the epic poem The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an epic about the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his love for Minnehaha, a Dakota woman! The story takes place in Michigan on the south shore of Lake Superior.

The term "aurora borealis" was coined by Galileo in 1619, from Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn and Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind! In the Southern Hemisphere, the phenomenon is called "aurora australis" after Auster, the Roman god of the south wind (whose Greek equivalent is Notus), so Australia is also named after a Roman god! Auroras are caused by magnetic storms that have been triggered by solar activity, such as solar flares (explosions on the Sun) or coronal mass ejections (ejected gas bubbles). Solar storms on the Sun's surface give out huge clouds of electrically charged particles. These particles can travel millions of miles, and some may eventually collide with the Earth. Most of these particles are deflected away, but some become captured in the Earth’s magnetic field, accelerating down towards the north and south poles into the atmosphere. This is why aurora activity is concentrated at the magnetic poles! These particles then slam into atoms and molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere and basically heat them up!

[Steamer]

Fun Fact: Columbus, WI is gateway to the state capital Madison, & Amtrak plans to go directly to Madison one day

[Hodaggium]

Yes, there is talk about bringing temporary service up to Green Bay for the NFL draft next April. I'll be stoked if that can happen. Great choice getting off in Columbus if you couldn't ride the whole route that day. Having a Culver's and a Kwik Trip sure made it worth it.

[bobsykes]

Wisconsin seems to really be doing a lot of things right these days. Great video, and what a great new route to have!

[TheRexGolden]

I appreciate you doing this trip as it is exactly what I'm looking for before taking this mode of transport. That being said, it's a bummer Amtrak is still unapologetic Amtrak. Bare bones, no frills and no allure. Also, thanks to short sighted Gov. Scott Walker for stamping out the high speed train that would have made this trip 4 1/2 hours.

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Culver's was founded in July 1984 by George, Ruth, Craig, and Lea Culver in Sauk City, and has served cheese curds since 1997! Cheese curds have their roots in Ancient Rome! Romans created a delicious treat that they called globuli which consisted of cheese curds, dredged in semolina flour, fried up in olive oil, and then covered in sweet honey. As people got settled throughout the United States, Wisconsin started out producing cheese in the 1840s when Anne Pickett established Wisconsin's first commercial cheese factory in 1841, and quickly took to the profession, attracting immigrants from cheesy world capitals like Switzerland and Germany. These new minds combined their cheese making prowess with local talent to hone Wisconsin into a hub of dairy producing goodness. A century later, Wisconsin was home to more than 1, 500 cheese factories, which produced more than 500 million pounds of cheese per year!

The reason behind the squeak of a cheese curd comes from the physical makeup of the curd itself. Cheese is made up of casein molecules which are bound together tightly with calcium phosphate. This makes curds a tight knit group of molecules that rub against your teeth when bitten (similar to the way your finger sings on the rim of a wine glass). As the cheese ages, the lactic acid inside begins to break down the calcium phosphate bonds resulting in an increase in flavor, but also a softer cheese that loses its characteristic bounce

[galoa]

Be glad you have train service. We have none in Southern Indiana

[baseballfan]

Great video of the new train and featured destination. This just shows how much latent demand there is for rail service for journeys of a few hours and hope this is the catalyst for further expansion.

[tmcb_]

"Thom in the Midwest" Lulz. Love that our favorite Dutchman made it back to Chicago! Congrats on 40k subscribers.

[ScottPalmer-mpwe]

I'm glad to see that you all in the midwest are getting another rail option. I'm spoiled in CT, having options of Amtrak, CT Rail, Metro North! I hope this trend continues.