Terminal 1–Lindbergh station is a

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

station on the Metro Blue Line. It is the only underground station on the Blue Line and is located below ground level at

Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport — also less commonly known as Wold–Chamberlain Field — is a joint civil-military public international airport serving the Twin Cities in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in Fort ...

. It is a center-platform station that is accessed by

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a Electric motor, motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the st ...

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

. Service began at the site when the second phase of the Blue Line opened on December 4, 2004.

Design

The location of this station directly below a major airport caused challenges for its designers. The tunnel and the station both had to be carefully designed to meet

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

safety requirements. Passengers can access this station from the

transit center A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports, and ferry slips. ...

in the "Hub Building", which is reached by taking the

Minneapolis–St. Paul Airport Trams The Minneapolis–St. Paul Airport Trams consist of a pair of Cable car (railway), cable-drawn automated people movers that serve travelers of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. Both were constructed by the Poma-Otis Elevator Co ...

, a

people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small-scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks ...

from the main

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devices for a computer * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together ** Battery terminal, electrical contact used to ...

. Due to concerns about terrorism, the tunnels were designed to be highly blast-resistant. The underground portion was the costliest section of the entire rail project. This station was excavated after the two main

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

tubes were constructed with a

tunnel boring machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole" or a "worm", is a machine used to excavate tunnels. TBMs are an alternative to drilling and blasting methods and "hand mining", allowing more rapid excavation through hard rock, wet or dry so ...

(though

cut and cover A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

was used near the ends of the tunnels). The

station box A station box is a term in the construction industry: It describes a box-like underground structure for a transportation system, for example a metro or tube station. Station boxes are built in two methods – "top-down" or "bottom-up". In the "bot ...

is high, wide, and approximately long. The station is the largest subterranean public space in Minnesota. During the excavation of the tunnels, a buried river valley was encountered a few hundred feet south of the station. Lindbergh Station is unheated, but maintains a temperature of roughly year-round because of its underground location.

Service

Airport shuttle operation

Service between this station and Terminal 2–Humphrey station is free to passengers and operates 24-hours a day. The Blue Line is the main way for travelers to transfer between terminals. Along with Terminal 2-Humphrey station, the station is owned and maintained by the

Metropolitan Airports Commission The Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) is a state-level airport authority that operates the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and six reliever airports in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Twin Cities region, whic ...

rather than Metro Transit.

Connections

From the station, there is a direct bus connection to Route 54 to

Downtown Saint Paul Downtown Saint Paul is the central business district of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River to the south, University Avenue to the north, US 52 to the east, and Kellogg Boulevard to the west. It is b ...

and the

Mall of America Mall of America (MoA) is a large shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Located within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north ...

Public art

The station contains the artwork ''Dragonfly'' by Andrea Myklebust and Stanton Sears. The artwork consists of a by terrazzo floor pattern of a dragonfly wing on platform complemented by an

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is a streamlined body that is capable of generating significantly more Lift (force), lift than Drag (physics), drag. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils. Foil (fl ...

wing suspended from the ceiling. The artwork is owned and maintained by the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. Myklebust and Sears have several other terrazzo floor artworks at the airport. The walls of the station are fabricated to look like an outcrop of Saint Peter

Sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

through which the tunnels have been bored.

References

External links

Metro Transit: Terminal 1-Lindbergh Station
{{DEFAULTSORT:Terminal 1-Lindbergh station Metro Blue Line (Minnesota) stations in Hennepin County, Minnesota Tunnels in Minnesota Airport railway stations in the United States Railway stations in the United States opened in 2004 2004 establishments in Minnesota Tunnels completed in 2004 Railway stations located underground in the United States Railway tunnels in the United States Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport