Ditching cars for rail, Wisconsin Amtrak passengers find accessibility

Aboard Amtrak’s Hiawatha service, quiet conversations complement the rumble of steel wheels maneuvering along the tracks.

A fresh layer of snow covers the ground while the train pulls away from the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, unraveling its cars from one Midwestern city toward another.

En route to Chicago Union Station, passengers ride along an Amtrak system forged by the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, which sought to revitalize American train travel. In approving the law, Congress declared that “modern, efficient, intercity railroad passenger service is a necessary part of a balanced transportation system.” 

Wisconsin operates three Amtrak routes: the Hiawatha, which runs a round-trip corridor service seven times daily between Chicago and Milwaukee; the Empire Builder, running one long-distance round trip each day between Chicago and Seattle or Portland; and the Borealis, a route added last May that runs one daily round trip between St. Paul, Milwaukee and Chicago.

In 2021, then-President Joe Biden signed into law the  $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which awarded $2.1 billion to Amtrak and its partners — the largest federal investment in public transit in history. 

Wisconsin residents haven’t yet fully experienced the law’s effects, but plans are well underway. The law awarded the Wisconsin Department of Transportation four $500,000 grants through a federal Corridor Identification and Development Program. 

These grants are funding research for a range of potential new services. Those include a proposed corridor connecting Milwaukee to Minneapolis through Madison and Eau Claire; an additional daily round trip between Chicago and St. Paul via La Crosse to complement the Empire Builder; and making the Hiawatha more frequent and extending its service to Green Bay.

In late December, I rode a sold-out Hiawatha train from Milwaukee to Chicago. The route is Amtrak’s busiest in the Midwest and the nation’s seventh-busiest. 

I returned in early January, talking to passengers along the way for our latest edition of Public Square, a series highlighting how Wisconsin residents connect with their communities. I gathered a variety of perspectives about how people use passenger trains and on efforts to make them more accessible.

I heard from a range of people, including a Milwaukee college student riding home to Chicago and a trucker stranded on the first leg of a cross-country journey home for the holidays. All opted for the train instead of a car.

Amanda Simms, who works for a long-haul trucking company in Allenton, Wisconsin, didn’t initially plan to take Amtrak to see her family in Philadelphia over the holidays. But an eyesight issue prompted the 28-year-old to abandon her plans to make the 14-hour drive. Booking a flight wouldn’t have worked, due to high cost and baggage limits. 

So she pivoted to rail. Simms felt positive in the early stage of her three-train, 20-plus-hour Amtrak experience. 

“All the peace that you see, it’s quiet — it’s something different,” Simms said. “When I’m riding the train in the city, you see all the buildings and stuff, but to see it from this aspect it’s different. I’ll take this any day.”

Sitting quietly alone a few rows away, Teni Fajemisin, 18, watched through the window as the train passed a blur of snow-covered trees. The Chicago native was heading home after finishing his first semester of a two-year program at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, where he said he has “met nice people” and contributes to a project that aims to build a new community center in Milwaukee’s Metcalfe Park neighborhood.

Fajemisin said riding the 90-minute Hiawatha route made the most sense since his dad works near Chicago Union Station.

While riding the Hiawatha back to Milwaukee a few weeks later, I spoke with Phillip Loan, who was riding in a business class seat, which offers extra legroom and footrests for a higher place. The 27-year–old Atlanta native was en route to a job interview at a Milwaukee hospital — hoping to become a Wisconsin resident. 

Loan said Amtrak offered the cheapest option, and he said he’d consider riding again, particularly if the system improves the convenience and quality of the service. He mentioned the attractiveness of high-speed services in other countries, recounting an “awesome” experience riding between major cities while visiting Japan.

Research for an expansion in Wisconsin continues. Its prospects depend on the success of the Muskego Yard Freight Rail Bypass project, which would open up the shared tracks for Amtrak’s passenger trains to function more efficiently, state DOT Rail Chief Lisa Stern told WPR in October. 

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin last year announced a fresh $72.8 million in federal funding for the bypass project, with plans to begin construction in 2026. 

While the feasibility of expansion to cities like Madison, Green Bay and Eau Claire continues to be researched, the state DOT says it’s working to execute the grant agreement for the bypass project — aiming to make train travel in Wisconsin more accessible for riders like those I met.

This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.