Amtrak renews push for Hiawatha West expansion to Madison with new cost plan
MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) — Amtrak wants to inform Wisconsinites about the Hiawatha West expansion. It would extend two Chicago and Milwaukee Hiawatha service trains west to Waukesha, Jefferson and Dane counties. This effort isn’t new. There has been talk of bringing Amtrak to the capital city for years, but the price tag has caused contention among lawmakers. Now, Amtrak says it has a more fiscally responsible approach that it hopes will get the project going. Amtrak is hoping that the success of the Borealis route, which launched in May 2024, can help convince lawmakers it’s worth the investment.
“Ridership on the existing Hiawatha service between Chicago and Milwaukee, that is the highest ridership route in the Midwest and one of the most successful routes in the country,” Arun Rao, senior director of state partnerships and development at Amtrak, said.
According to Amtrak, that route has about 600 daily passengers and over 400,000 passengers since its launch.
“So, I have family in Chicago, and it would make it really easy to just go down there for the day and come back,” Sophie Smead, a lifelong Madison resident, said. “It's kind of a to-do to like drive down to Chicago and getting everything in the car and getting there.”
Smead is in her last year of high school and thinking about attending college at UW-Madison. She says having a train that could take students to Chicago could also help with her and others' future.
“There is a lot going on in Chicago, so it would probably connect a lot of students with networking opportunities that they would like in a place like Chicago that has so much going on,” added Smead.
Right now, Amtrak projects the overall cost will be anywhere from $215 million to $275 million. Eighty percent would be covered by federal funds, with 20% covered by the state. Upgrades would be made to existing infrastructure supporting passenger and freight trains. Fewer capital projects would be needed, and there would be lower operating costs, according to Amtrak. The company also predicts it would generate $20 million in visitor spending. With changes likely coming to the Capitol, Amtrak hopes these projections will convince lawmakers to hop on board.
“People are looking for an option besides I-90 and I-94 across Wisconsin, and people in the three counties, including a couple of the most populist counties in Wisconsin, deserve access to a passenger rail network, and this will bring it to them,” Marc Magliari, a spokesperson for Amtrak, said.
There are still several hurdles that Amtrak has to clear before it can break ground. The next steps are to complete the service development plan, which Amtrak is hoping to complete in June, which would iron out the capital improvement projects needed. Preliminary engineering and environmental clearance also need to be done, which the company expects will take about a year. Then would come applying for a federal grant. To do that, the state would have to commit to the project. Final design and construction will take about two years. Amtrak hopes to get the project going by 2028 or 2029. For more information about the project, click here.