In the 1960s, the major depots in the Twin Cities were:

St. Paul Union Station
Great Northern Depot in Minneapolis (also used by Northern Pacific, Burlington, Chicago great Western and North Western)
Milwaukee Road Depot in Minneapolis (also used by Rock Island and Soo Line).

When Amtrak took over in 1978, all Twin Cities service utilized the Great Northern Depot until 1978 when the Midway Station was built. At that time, Amtrak served the Twin Cities with three trains - the Empire Builder, North Coast Hiawatha and North Star. The Empire Builder and North Coast Hiawatha were less than daily trains west of the Twin Cities, but together provided daily service to Chicago.

With the inauguration of the North Star Commuter rail service in 2009, a new station was opened in Downtown Minneapolis adjacent to the Target Field baseball arena.

In 2014, Amtrak shifted its remaining Twin Cities service, the Empire Builder, from Midway Station to St. Paul Union Depot which underwent a massive renovation