MILWAUKEE – A project nearly a decade in the making came to fruition Tuesday, as Amtrak’s “Borealis” line transported its first passengers between Chicago and the Twin Cities.
Trips aboard the first train were sold out by the time it pulled into the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport Amtrak station around 12:30pm.
“After years of disinvestment in the transportation system and missed opportunities for passenger rail in Wisconsin, our state was long overdue for a new train service to meet travelers’ demand for a safe, efficient, and sustainable way to get where they need to go,” said Governor Tony Evers while at the celebration event in La Crosse Tuesday. In his 2023-53 biennial budget, Governor Evers allocated $971,200 for the new Borealis route.
“It represents a bridge, a bridge between communities, offering residents in Milwaukee new ways to explore our state…as well as to travel to our sister state Minnesota,” said Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at the airport station.
“When we’re able to make these kinds of connections, we’re providing more opportunities for the people we represent. Whether we’re talking about educational opportunities, job opportunities, housing opportunities, it just creates an even greater connection,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley tells WTMJ.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: New Amtrak line through Wisconsin to begin service May 21st
At the Milwaukee Mitchell Amtrak station, the welcoming party could also see the on-going development of the new platform on the west end of the tracks. A new southbound platform will be connected to the main station by a walkway, which is expected to be completed in 2025.
The Borealis will operate using GE Genisis locomotives like those offered on the Empire Builder and Hiawatha lines. It can reach max speeds of around 100 miles per hour, and without delays can make the trip between Sturtevant and La Crosse in just under four hours. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s project factsheet estimates around 124,200 are projected to ride the new train in its first year of full service.
At the post-greeting press conference Tuesday, media members asked local leaders whether or not the new “Borealis” line would serve as a proving point in Madison for state politicians looking to promote expanded Amtrak service to Wisconsin cities like Madison, Eau Claire, and Green Bay. DOT Deputy Secretary Kristina Boardman says federal grants are being considered to aid in expanding service to those cities, but that rail upgrades need to be made before any serious expansion efforts can be considered.
With regard to Green Bay, Boardman said the Packers organization has already reached out to the DOT about the idea of using a temporary passenger rail service to transport people between Milwaukee and the 2025 NFL Draft, where organizers expect over a quarter of a million people to spend an extended weekend in Titletown.
“We actually have a meeting [Wednesday] to talk about what we might do on a short-term basis to help facilitate that transportation of people who need and want to get to Green Bay for the NFL Draft.”
I asked County Executive Crowley his thoughts on this idea of expanded service during the draft, and whether or not the idea was feasible. Crowley tells me the state needs to take an all-hands-on-deck approach to the draft, including the transportation of fans to and from the event.
Crowley also says he’s heard no new developments on another potential Wisconsin passenger rail expansion: the long-discussed KRM Line. The potential commuter line has been studied for over 25 years, coming closest to fruition in 2009 when the Democrat-led Wisconsin state legislature granted a regional transit authority the ability to levy a rental car tax to pay for the line’s operations. That idea was killed when the Legislature shifted to Republican control in 2011, but in 2022 the City of Racine received five million dollars to study
