Minneapolis–Saint Paul

Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a major metropolitan area built around the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers. The area is commonly known as the Twin Cities for its two largest cities, Minneapolis the city with the highest population in Minnesota and Saint Paul, the state capital. It is a classic example of twin cities in the sense of geographical proximity. Together the two cities anchor the second-largest economic center in the Midwest, behind Chicago.

There are several different definitions of the region. Many refer to the Twin Cities as the seven-county region which is governed under the Metropolitan Council regional governmental agency and planning organization. The United States Office of Management and Budget officially designates 16 counties as the Minneapolis-St. Paul–Bloomington MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area, the 16th largest in the United States. The entire region known as the Minneapolis-St. Paul MN-WI Combined Statistical Area, has a population of 3,797,883, the 14th largest, according to 2013 Census estimates.

Midway station (Minnesota)

Midway is a former Amtrak intercity train station in the Midway neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It was last served by Amtrak's daily Empire Builder (with service from Chicago, Illinois to Seattle, Washington or Portland, Oregon) and, for a time, by the North Star (with service from Chicago, and later from this station, to Duluth, Minnesota), as well as briefly by the North Coast Hiawatha (with service from Chicago to Seattle).

The Midway station was closed for passenger service on May 7, 2014, with passenger service being moved to the restored Saint Paul Union Depot. However, the station is still owned by Amtrak and continues to be used to service the Empire Builder.

Description

The Midway station is located at 730 Transfer Road and is named after the Midway area of Saint Paul. Its Amtrak station code was MSP and from 1978 to 2014 it served as the only intercity train station for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. The station can be easily accessed from I‑94/US‑12/US‑52. The station has an elevation of 870 feet (270 m).