ST. CLOUD -- Tourism between St. Cloud and the Cities may get a boost with Governor Dayton's proposal to extend Northstar rail service to our metro.

State Representative Jeff Howe of Rockville says he supports Northstar extension, and wants to extend the time-frame the train runs.

"I think the thing that would really make the Northstar valuable, is to increase the amount of times the train runs. Right now it runs in the morning and evening, a true commuter train, but if you want to go down and say, catch a show at the Ordway? This isn't going to work for you."

Howe added that another way to better use the Northstar line, is evacuations.

"If you really want to use it right, you should take it to Camp Ripley, so if we had an incident here or in Minneapolis, you could evacuate a large number of people to a place where you could safely house, and feed them."

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The Governor's budget called for three-million dollars to invest in a six-month demonstration.

The demonstration would allow MnDOT and the community a chance to show the need for continued rail services from Minneapolis to St. Cloud.

The service currently stops in Big Lake.

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