The CPKC Final Spike Tour, featuring Empress steam locomotive 2816, traveled through Wisconsin en route from Calgary to Mexico City on May 5-6, 2024. It followed the CPKC main line from La Crosse through Milwaukee, same route as the Amtrak Empire Builder and Borealis.
Thanks to the WisARP members who contributed these photos! Share yours
Amtrak announced that the new Borealis service, formerly “TCMC”, will begin on May 21, 2024. Tickets are available immediately.
Borealis train numbers 1333 and 1340 replace Hiawatha trains 333 and 340 on the same schedule between Milwaukee and Chicago, providing late morning departures from St Paul and Chicago and early evening arrivals. Borealis stops at all Amtrak stations between St Paul and Chicago.
Share your photos and experiences of this new service with WisARP!
The Empire Builder schedule is unchanged by introduction of the newly added service.
The new service will begin with four Horizon coaches and a business class / cafe car (Source: Great River Rail Commission). No checked baggage.
Amtrak has not announced additional Thruway bus services connecting to the new service.
The new service ends a nine-year odyssey since the 2015 release of the Amtrak feasibility study, and finally closes 18 months of anticipation caused by several knowledgeable sources claiming “soon” since late 2022.
The new service will be partially subsidized for the first three years of operation by a $12.5 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Restoration and Enhancement Grant program. Additional operating subsidy must be paid by the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Borealis begins with $31 million of infrastructure improvements incomplete, mostly in La Crosse and in Minnesota (source: WisDOT). These improvement are funded, and will still occur after service begins.
Train 1340 Events:
Train 1333 Events:
Other Events:
Share your photos and experiences of these events with WisARP!
Update 2024-05-07: Amtrak’s first known test train departed Chicago on May 7, and returned on May 8.
The CPKC Final Spike Steam Tour, featuring Empress steam locomotive 2816, will be traveling from Calgary to Mexico City. It will be passing along the CPKC main in Wisconsin on May 5-6, 2024.
No events for train access or rides are scheduled for Wisconsin as the train passes by. The nearest events will be in St Paul, MN (May 3) and Franklin Park, IL (May 8).
The CPKC main passes through many Wisconsin cities. It is the route of Amtrak’s Empire Builder.
Share your photos with WisARP of this rare event!
The Racine Common Council agreed on Feb 6, 2024, to hire two consulting firms to explore governance and financing options to restart proposed Kenosha – Racine – Milwaukee (KRM) commuter service.
Previous attempts to develop KRM service were abandoned in 2011 after the Wisconsin Legislature eliminated the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority, and with it the organization and funding to develop the service. The current resurrection is funded by a $5 Million grant to the City of Racine earmarked by WI Senator Baldwin in October 2021.
Milwaukee Magazine also reported on the new KRM contracts.
“Financed by a $5 million federal planning grant, the Racine Common Council voted Feb. 5 [2024] to hire consultants to conduct the new study and to examine whether transit-oriented development near stations could help pay for the rail line. Milwaukee and Kenosha have agreed to cooperate with the study, which will be overseen by representatives of the three cities, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and the state Department of Transportation.”
The Milwaukee Streetcar’s (The Hop) new L-Line began daily service on April 11.
The newly-opened Lakefront station is close to the Festival Grounds, Milwaukee Art Museum, and Discovery World.
Limited Sunday-only service began October 29, 2023 that passed through the under-construction Coture development (above the new Lakefront station) without stopping.
Media coverage of the opening: Journal-Sentinel, Urban Milwaukee, Channel 6, Channel 12, OnMilwaukee, Spectrum News.
Rich Kedzior of WisDOT presented a series of updates during WisARP’s Spring 2024 meeting at Wisconsin Dells.
Hiawatha Service is back up to 75% of pre-pandemic ridership, and is back up to 5 coaches on each trainset (pre-pandemic was six coaches). The Milwaukee Airport Rail Station second platform is under construction, and its completion is one prerequisite for an 8th daily Hiawatha trip.
Two projects in central Milwaukee are in progress. The downtown Milwaukee Intermodal Station tracks will receive signal improvements and Centralized Traffic control (CTC). Freight trains will bypass the passenger station on a new main through Muskego Yard. Due to the yard’s constraints in the Menominee Valley, adding the new main requires re-configuring part of the yard.
Rich described TCMC as “so close we can taste it,” and listed the five remaining agreements to be finalized (3 state operating agreements, Ramsey County agreement for use of St Paul station, and Amtrak-FRA grant agreement). When asked about the “Borealis” service name, WisDOT, he stated that WisDOT “cannot officially confirm or deny the name of the new TCMC service.” The service can start before completion of the $56 million in improvements and capacity expansion, mostly in Minnesota.
Two more new corridor services (Milwaukee-Madison-Eau Claire-Twin Cities and a Hiawatha extension to Green Bay) will be studies and developed through the FRA Corridor ID program, plus additional Hiawatha frequencies and an additional TCMC frequency . WisDOT will begin soliciting consultants for Step 1 of all four services in May 2024. Since the local match for Step 2 has not yet been budgeted by WisDOT, service development could be accelerated by communities, particularly by meeting the local funding match requirements without waiting for the Wisconsin Legislature’s biennial budget cycle.
Finally, in response to an audience question, WisARP has begun recruiting a volunteer cadre of educators to help inform county, city, and other local leaders on their stakeholding roles.
UPDATE 2024-03-28: Rail Passenger Association CEO Jim Mathews added more details during his March 20 RailNation address:
ORIGINAL 2024-03-14:
More hints about Amtrak’s concept for their future Long Distance fleet: The technical specifications document for the 2023 Request For Proposals were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
The document is essentially a snapshot of what Amtrak wants from manufacturers, not what it will finally get, nor what it is promising riders.The specifications discuss only bi-level, low-platform, long distance equipment to replace current Superliners used on services including the Empire Builder.
Reminder: This is Amtrak’s shopping list for manufacturers. It doesn’t mean Amtrak will get everything it wants in the final affordable design.
The new bi-level long distance procurement will be a lengthy process. In 2022, Amtrak wrote:
“Significant customer and marketplace research is necessary for this once-in-a-generation procurement.”
“Amtrak anticipates that the first new long-distance railcars will arrive towards the end of the current decade, with deliveries continuing into the early 2030s.”
FY 2022-2027 Service and Asset Line Plans, page 129
FOIA Note: The use of the FOIA process means that the technical specifications document is now public. While many pages are labelled “confidential,” that label is no longer accurate. Amtrak had the opportunity to redact confidential information before release.
The Surface Transportation Board has announced the initial members of the Passenger Rail Advisory Committee (PRAC).
“The purpose of the PRAC is to provide advice and guidance to the Board on passenger rail issues on a continuing basis to help the Board better fulfill its statutory responsibilities in overseeing certain aspects of passenger rail service.”
What the PRAC is supposed to do:
“The scope of the Committee’s activities shall include providing information, advice, and recommendations to the Board on issues impacting the development and operation of railroad passenger services, including: improving efficiency on passenger rail routes; reducing disputes between passenger rail carriers and freight rail hosts regarding the use of freight rail carrier-owned facilities and infrastructure for passenger service, including passenger on-time performance issues; and improving regulatory processes related to intercity passenger rail to the benefit of the public, the communities served by passenger rail, and the environment.”
The committee is supposed to have two open meetings annually.
On March 19, the Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority approved two amendments to their November 2023 rental agreement with Amtrak for overnight storage and servicing of TCMC trainsets at St Paul Union Depot.
The Great River Rail Commission added that other key agreements were awaiting the Ramsey County approval:
[TCMC] service expansion involves partnership agreements among the Federal Railroad Administration, the state departments of transportation, the host railroad, the Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority, and Amtrak. These agreements are in progress and finalization was dependent on completion of the agreements between the RCRRA and Amtrak.
The Chicago Hub Improvement Program (CHIP) is a complex set of projects to transform the century-old Chicago Union Station into a much better regional terminal that matches current needs and modern passenger expectations and the modern operational needs of Amtrak and METRA.
CHIP includes projects inside Union Station, and nearby projects within several miles so trains can more easily access the station with fewer conflicting moves, and even some projects miles away to reduce known long-term conflicts with busy freight railroads.
There are many proposed projects. Only the projects in development are shown here.
Recent plans, presentations, videos, and other resources:
| Project | Description | Status | ||
Mail Platform Reactivation | Repurpose Union Station’s old mail platforms (unused since 2005) for passenger service. Initially creating extra capacity to support other CHIP construction projects, the new platform will also host at least two through tracks, offering exciting opportunities for Wisconsin services. This may be a phased improvement, with a single platform (2 through tracks) available early, and a second platform (4 through tracks) available later. 2023: High Speed Rail Association’s CrossRail Chicago concept using the new through capability. (Video) | Design and construction 80% funded by FSP grant (2023-12-08). Construction dates not yet known | ||
Trainshed Ventilation | Trainshed ventilation improvements, structural integrity improvements, and air quality enhancements. This will allow operational flexibility: Trains can have the locomotive at either end. | NEPA & Preliminary Engineering1 80% funded by FSP grant (2023-12-08). Design & construction not funded. | ||
Platform Capacity Expansion | Expand commuter platform capacity by rearranging platforms and tracks to eliminate the old, unused baggage platforms. Includes new street entrances directly to the wider commuter platforms, reducing commuter flow through the station concourse. | NEPA & Preliminary Engineering2 80% funded by FSP grant (2023-12-08). Design & construction not funded. | ||
Concourse Improvements | Improvements to the station experience, improved boarding process, and modernized amenities. | Preliminary Engineering started May 20233. Included in FY2025 funding request (2024-03-14) |
Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers 