The newest Amtrak train making stops from St. Paul to Chicago has reached a major milestone in ridership.

The Borealis has seen more than 100,000 passengers since it opened less than six months ago.

“It’s really cool to have a second option to get to Chicago,” said Riley Nielsen, who rode the Borealis on Friday.

Friday was not Nielsen’s first time on this train. In fact, he was on the Borealis’ first-ever trip out of Union Depot in St. Paul.

“I think there’s a lot of people who have needs to commute there or just want to visit,” Nielsen said.

Since debuting in May, the Amtrak route connecting St. Paul to Chicago has seen more than 100,000 passengers. Brian Nelson, the president of the nonprofit All Aboard Minnesota, says the initial yearly projection for the Borealis from MnDOT and Amtrak was around 125,000 riders.

“We are beyond excited,” said Nelson.

All Aboard Minnesota works to bring more passenger rail to the Midwest.

“The demand has always been there,” Nelson said.

The Empire Builder route connects Chicago to the Twin Cities and Seattle, Wash.

“Our service through here has been so skeletal with just the Empire Builder for so many years, so we’re excited that the Borealis is doing great,” Nelson said.

Nelson says having both is proving to work.

“Spoke to several conductors and I asked them the question, ‘Is the Borealis cannibalizing ridership on the Empire Builder?’ and all of them said unequivocally no,” Nelson said.

These impressive ridership numbers on the Borealis even have Amtrak’s president looking at how they can add capacity.

“It’s not if we should add new service, it’s where should we,” Nelson said.

Nelson is in favor of bringing more service from the Twin Cities to Kansas City and extending the Borealis to the Fargo-Morehead area.

“There’s a tremendous amount of interest for that,” Nelson said.

Nielsen is fascinated with rail but recognizes there’s room to improve.

“Currently, the system is not that great so it’s encouraging to see some progress there,” Nielsen said.

Whatever’s next, Nielsen is excited to be a part of the ride.

“I think it helps prove to people that rail actually can work in America,” Nielsen said.

For more information on the Borealis schedule, click here.

Click here to see updates on rail in the Midwest from All Aboard Minnesota.