'Win-win for freight and passenger rail': FRA gives WisDOT $72.8M grant for Milwaukee-area railroad project

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Federal transportation officials visited Milwaukee on Thursday, Oct. 31, to celebrate a big investment in the city's railroad system.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) will receive a $72.8 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for a project that will improve freight rail - and in turn, passenger rail - in Milwaukee.

The grant supports WisDOT's Muskego Rail Yard Bypass project, which would allow freight trains to avoid Milwaukee's Intermodal Station with a double track mainline through the Muskego Yard.

"The project is a win-win for freight and passenger rail," said Amit Bose, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration.

Right now, freight trains, like Canadian Pacific-Kansas City and passenger trains, like Amtrak, run side-by-side through Milwaukee.

That causes freight trains to have to slow down significantly near the intermodal station and slows passenger trains.

"Delay times sometimes for the passenger rail is significant when a freight train is coming through here, so just from sitting around on a train waiting for it to take off, I think it's going to help on the arrival and departure times," said Scott Lawry, the deputy secretary at WisDOT.

Lowry said separating freight and passenger trains will improve safety and allow more daily round trips on Amtrak's Hiawatha route between Milwaukee and Chicago.

"If we can get some people out of cars into passenger rail as they come through the city, it should help with congestion, it should help with our carbon footprint all together," he explained.

The grant is funded by a rail program through the Biden-Harris Administration's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

It is the largest non-highway grant WisDOT has received to date.

"We had over $7.4 billion in requests, and this project stood out," Bose said.

This project comes as more passenger rail corridors from Milwaukee are being considered, including to and from Green Bay, Eau Claire, and Madison.

"It's going to be a lynchpin for future improvement of rail transportation in Wisconsin," Lowry said Thursday. "It's just a springboard on the future things that are going to come."

The full cost estimate for the Muskego Rail Yard Bypass is $92 million.

WisDOT hopes to start construction by 2026.

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