MILWAUKEE, WI – JUNE 15: An Amtrak train, sits at the Milwaukee Intermmodal Station(Amtrak and Greyhound), in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on JUNE 15, 2012. (Photo By Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Wisconsin passenger rail developments came in twos June 25.
As rail advocates and southeast Wisconsin leaders were meeting for the “Think BIG About Wisconsin Passenger Rail” conference at Milwaukee’s Oriental Theatre, Governor Tony Evers separately announced a grant application sent to the U.S. Department of Transportation requesting $218.2 million to help fund a westward expansion of the Hiawatha Amtrak line.
“The opportunity to expand passenger rail has haunted Wisconsin for a generation because of a short-sighted political stunt—that decision cost our state dearly, and we want to right that wrong,” said Evers in a press release. A spokesperson confirmed in an email the application was for the 80 percent portion of the $272.8 million project price tag to be covered by federal dollars, with the state responsible for $54.6 million along with a $2.5 million annual operating subsidy.
The “Hiawatha West” line would initially have up to two daily round-trips with planned stations in the Pewaukee, Watertown, and Madison. If the project receives the necessary funding, and engineering studies go off without a hitch, Amtrak estimates the line could begin service in 2030. The Hiawatha currently serves around 681,600 passengers yearly, with an additional 260,000 annual trips expected on the extension route, according to Amtrak.
The governor indicated the Trump administration would make a decision on the grant application “in the coming months”.
The corridor was previously targeted for a high speed rail line around 20 years ago. In 2009, then-Governor Jim Doyle brokered a deal with Spain-based high speed rail manufacturer Talgo to build two new trains for the Madison-Milwaukee line while the project was earmarked for $810 million in federal funds from the Obama administration. Following his election in 2010, Governor Scott Walker rejected the grant and the trains ultimately ended up in Nigeria following a years-long legal battle that led to Wisconsin paying out $9.7 million to Talgo in 2015 on top of the $42.2 million to build the trains initially.
In 2024, when Amtrak’s new Borealis line began service between Chicago and the Twin Cities with several stops in Wisconsin, Director of Network Development Arum Rao said the state was being heavily targeted by the Corridor ID plan for future rail projects. The Federal Railroad Administration Initiative founded in 2021 under the Biden administration is a big part of recent Hiawatha expansion talks, and is what city leaders in Milwaukee, Cudahy, Racine, and Kenosha have targeted as the best route to bring the proposed MARK Rail Line to life. That line would connect those four cities along rail currently owned by Union Pacific replicating historic lakeshore lines of the past.
There hasn’t been a passenger rail route along the Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha corridor since 1971, and a similar attempt along that stretch of rail called the KRM line was ended in 2011 when the Wisconsin Legislature’s budget committee repealed legislation that allowed the existence of regional transit authorities.
Thursday’s passenger rail conference featured transportation engineer and planner Hayden Clarkin, known on social media as “The Transit Guy” and referred to by event moderator WTMJ’s Kristin Brey as a “transit evangelist”.
“Wisconsin hasn’t fallen behind the future, Wisconsin has fallen behind the past”, said Clarkin referring to past attempts to build high speed rail in the state that estimated trains could run up to 185 miles per hour which never came to fruition.
Other speakers included Commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of City Development Lafayette Crump, Vice President of engineering consulting firm Kapur Jeff Stone, and Chair of the West Central Wisconsin Rail Coalition Scott Rogers, who joined Brey for a panel discussion on building a passenger rail vision for the state. Executive Director of the High Speed Rail Alliance Rick Harnish also spoke about the implementation of the Brightline rail system in Florida, followed by Racine Mayor and Chair of the MARK Rail Commission Cory Mason
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson was also present for the event, delivering opening remarks before departing.
“Yes the Hiawatha is doing a great deal servicing between Milwaukee and Chicago, but it could be doing so much more,” said Johnson.
Multiple speakers stressed the importance of funding for passenger rail being included in the next Wisconsin state budget, which will be drafted by a new governor next year. Republican candidate Tom Tiffany has been opposed to most forms of passenger rail expansion in the past in favor of highway investment, while none of the six Democratic candidates have made rail a significant priority in their 2026 campaigns.
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