Clockwise from top left: Welders join the Green and Blue line tracks in 2012; the first piece of Green Line rail is laid in downtown St. Paul; construction on the Government Plaza Station in downtown Minneapolis; the Green Line's ribbon-cutting ceremony at Target Field Station; Bombardier and Siemens trains, after the older Bombardier trains were repainted. View more Green Line construction and opening day photos here.
In June 2004, Senior Rail Supervisor Nick Hensgens was on his way to becoming one of Metro Transit’s first train operators.
So, on opening day, he found himself among several gathered in the Rail Control Center watching from afar as the first light rail vehicle carrying customers left the Warehouse District/Hennepin Avenue Station.
“There was a lot of pressure to make sure everything went well on that first trip,” said Hensgens, who became a train operator two weeks after opening day.
Twenty years and more than 175 million Blue Line rides later, Hensgens is still a part of the team that helps keep trains running safely. In recognition of his years of service, Hensgens on Tuesday, June 18, will throw out the first pitch at the Minnesota Twins game.
An event commemorating the Blue Line’s 20-year and Green Line’s 10-year anniversaries will be held before the game at Target Field Station. The event will feature remarks from Metro Transit and Met Council leaders, county commissioners, and others, along with activities, music and cookies.
For employees like Hensgens, the milestones are an opportunity to reflect on the roles they played in bringing light rail to the Twin Cities and hopes for future expansion.
“I wanted to be part of something new that only a select few were going to be able to do,” Hensgen said. “Those first years were a whirlwind. We carried more people in that first year than we had expected to carry in the first several years.”
Read other employees’ recollections of opening days and the years leading up to them below:
Transit Supervisor Mark Ammend is the only one from the first class of 15 Blue Line operators who still works at Metro Transit. For sentimental reasons, he saved the list of those 15.
He remembers opening day as “almost like a carnival atmosphere,” with lines to board the train a block long. Children were especially enthused.
“The kids were always glued to the glass right behind you,” Ammend said. “You almost felt like a rock star when you operated the train.”
Alicia Vap, who is now leading the METRO Gold Line project, has fond memories of both the Blue Line and Green Line’s opening.
Vap was working for Ramsey County when she was invited to ride the Blue Line’s inaugural trip. Her infant daughter joined her on that ride, and again ten years later when the Green Line opened.
Vap served as a station design lead and agreements manager for the Green Line.
“Now my daughter goes to school at the U of M and takes the train,” she said.
Judith Phillips worked on the Blue Line project through an engineering company and later joined Metro Transit. Her most vivid memory is touring the light rail tunnel under the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The tunnel was built with a tunnel-boring machine (above) that was shipped from Germany to Duluth, then hauled by two trucks in tandem to the Twin Cities, which involved closing a highway.
“One of the most exciting things for us on the project was getting a tour of the tunnel before it was open,” she said. “You felt like you were really part of the project because you knew what was happening and part of something great that was coming to the Twin Cities.”
Jason Jaworski, a Green Line construction inspector who now works on the Green Line Extension, experienced a career highlight even before the Green Line’s opening day.
Jaworski was among those who helped deliver a light rail vehicle to Union Depot Station when President Obama arrived in February 2014, four months before Green Line service began.
Obama toured the nearby operations and maintenance facility and new light rail trains before a speech touting transit funding.
“To have the project I was working on be nationally recognized as an important infrastructure investment, it felt great,” Jaworski said. “I was part of something positive."
The Lake Street/Midtown Station on opening day, June 26, 2004.
Light rail development through the years
- June 19, 1954: Final day of streetcar service in the Twin Cities
- 1985: MnDOT study concludes light rail best option for Hiawatha corridor (now Blue Line)
- 2001: Groundbreaking for the Hiawatha Line
- 2001: Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority begins work for on proposed Central Corridor (now Green Line)
- June 26, 2004: Hiawatha Line opens for service
- 2006: Metropolitan Council takes responsibility for Green Line project
- 2010: Central Corridor construction begins
- 2011: Hiawatha Line and Central Corridor renamed METRO Blue and Green lines
- 2012: Construction crews connect Green and Blue Line tracks
- June 14, 2014: METRO Green Line opens for service
- 2019: Heavy construction begins on Green Line Extension
- 2027: Green Line Extension opens for service
- 2030: Blue Line Extension opens for service
Light rail by the numbers
- 176.45 million Blue Line rides since opening (through April 2024)
- 103.27 million Green Line rides since opening (through April 2024)
- 118 light rail vehicles
- 37 light rail stations (Blue Line, Green Line)