[jpIllInoIs]

Awesome to see Wisconsin pushing aggressively to expand this corridor service to 10 RT per day/.

Evers wants to expand Amtrak’s Milwaukee to Chicago Hiawatha service
WisDOT reports record calendar year ridership for service

Gov. Tony Evers wants to front the money needed to expand the Amtrak Hiawatha service between Milwaukee and Chicago to allow three additional daily roundtrips.

A provision in Evers’ proposed 2019-21 budget calls for $45 million in bonding to go toward passenger rail improvements for the Amtrak line that runs between Milwaukee and Chicago.

Arun Rao, passenger rail manager for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, said the money would be used as matching funds for federal grants that would cover the remaining costs of a rail-improvement project that carries an estimated price tag of $195 million.

Plans for increasing the Hiawatha service have been in the works for about six years. WisDOT presented its plans for the service expansion to Milwaukee officials in February 2018.

The work would ultimately allow the Hiawatha service to expand from seven to 10 daily trips. But a number of improvements to the line need to be made before that can happen, said Rao. Such work includes improvements to the Muskego Yard in Milwaukee that would allow freight trains to go through there as opposed to the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, which is where Hiawatha passenger are dropped off.

“So, that would free up capacity at the Milwaukee Intermodal Station,” he said......

“More people are using the Amtrak Hiawatha every year to avoid traffic congestion, tolls, and parking, and have time to work or relax while traveling,” Craig Thompson, WisDOT secretary-designee, said in a statement.

With news that Milwaukee has been selected to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Amtrak expects the Hiawatha service to be even busier next year during the days leading up to and during the convention.

“We anticipate certainly that the already record-setting Hiawatha service will be busier still on those days,” said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari. He added it was too early to discuss specifics, such as whether Amtrak would offer more trains or longer service during the convention