Editing Minneapolis–Saint Paul (section)

=== Rail transport ===
At one time, the region had numerous passenger rail services, including both interurban [[streetcar]] systems and interstate rail. Due to the river's width at points farther south, the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area was briefly one of the few places where the Mississippi could be crossed by railroad. Much commercial rail traffic also ran through the area, often carrying grain to be processed at Minneapolis mills or delivering other goods to Saint Paul to be transported along the Mississippi. Saint Paul was long at the [[head of navigation]] on the river, until a [[Lock and Dam No. 1, Mississippi River|lock and dam facility]] was added upriver in Minneapolis.

Passenger travel hit its peak in 1888, with nearly eight million traversing to and from [[Saint Paul Union Depot]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2018}} This amounted to approximately 150 trains daily. Soon, other rail crossings were built farther south and travel through the region began to decline. In an effort by the rail companies to combat the rise of the automobile, some of the earliest [[streamliner]]s ran from [[Chicago]] to Minneapolis/Saint Paul and eventually served distant points in the [[Pacific Northwest]]. Today, this interstate service is served by [[Amtrak]]'s [[King Street Station|Seattle]]/[[Portland Union Station|Portland]]-to-[[Chicago Union Station|Chicago]] ''[[Empire Builder]]'' route, running once daily in each direction, and supplemented by the {{lnl|Amtrak|Borealis}} route to Chicago. The Empire Builder is named after [[James J. Hill]], a railroad tycoon who settled on [[Summit Avenue (St. Paul)|Summit Avenue]] in Saint Paul in what is now known as the [[James J. Hill House]].