If you find yourself in the Minneapolis - Saint Paul area, you will probably hear the bells of the region’s light rail system. In 2004, the Twin Cities established the Hiawatha line which covered 12 miles and created easy access to the Mall of America in Bloomington, downtown Minneapolis, and the Minneapolis/Saint Paul (MSP) International Airport. Bombardier, a firm which specializes in the aerospace and transportation industry furnished the Hiawatha line with BOMBARDIER FLEXITY, a model vehicle designed to fit the needs of newly adopted light rail systems.
Overall, this project has been a grand success. Consider the ridership of the program itself. According to a report by Metro Transit, the Hiawatha line served 10.9 million people in 2004, 65% higher than the Twin Cities projected.
Ultimately, this success story reflects the mission of Bombardier. The company strives to ‘’bridge distances and bring people together across cities and the globe (Bombardier).” Indeed this goal has been accomplished in the Twin Cities due to the reliable vehicles Bombardier provided to the city.
To find out more information about Bombardier and their projects, visit the company’s website or follow @BombardierRail on Twitter for real-time updates.
About the Quebec Business Spotted in the Midwest (QBSM) Series
The QBSM series is a simple and informal way to talk about Québec’s presence in the Midwest. By taking pictures of Québec’s goods and services whenever we see them, we, at the Québec office in Chicago, are able to tell you a story about Quebec’s economy, creativity, talent, and perhaps even its history. Though it would be impossible to give you an exhaustive list of all the Québec products in the Midwest (we export more than $8 billion of goods to the Midwest per year!) the QBSM series seeks to provide a small but informative window into Québec’s economic scene. If you know of a Québec product, store, technology or even an artist or a show in the Midwest that we should include in this series, please let us know about it by contacting Kerith Iverson .