Wayzata Subdivision
The Wayzata Subdivision or Wayzata Sub is a railway line that runs about from Willmar to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Currently operated by BNSF Railway, this was part of the Great Northern Railway's transcontinental line from Minneapolis to Seattle, Washington. Today, BNSF's Northern Transcon travels up the Staples Subdivision instead, which is a more direct route to Fargo, North Dakota. As of May, 2011, the route is of moderate capacity and typically sees around 15 trains per day.
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 and the Marshall Subdivision to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The line meets the Midway Subdivision 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 upon the formation of Amtrak in 1971. Service to the Minneapolis Great Northern Depot stopped in the late 1978, when trains were shifted to Midway station in Saint Paul. The Empire Builder changed to its modern routing along the Staples Subdivision in late 1979 when the North Coast Hiawatha ended service.
There wasn't any passenger service on the line from that time until November 2009 when the Northstar commuter rail 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 bicycle route runs parallel to the Wayzata Sub from St. Louis Park into downtown Minneapolis along former Great Northern and Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway right-of-way. The proposed Southwest Corridor light-rail line will briefly parallel the Wayzata Subdivision from the vicinity of Lyndale Junction to Cedar Lake Junction.
