MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has announced that the Amtrak Interstate 41 Thruway Bus Service will cease operations on October 1, since the contract between the state and Amtrak would not be renewed. The service linked the Wisconsin cities of Green Bay, De Pere, Appleton, Oshkosh, and Fond du lac with Amtrak trains in Milwaukee.
According to WisDOT, the Republican-controlled state legislature didn’t provide adequate resources to keep this service operational in the 2025 biennial state budget. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers requested over $15 million in his proposed budget to finance the expansion of the rail system in the state and keep funding existing rail operations, including Amtrak I-41 Thruway bus service. However, the legislature cut the funds for passenger rail-related operations.
The I-41 Thruway bus service has provided two daily trips since 2009. These buses were timed to ensure connection with the Milwaukee-Chicago Hiawatha Service at the Milwaukee Intermodal Terminal.
This service, WisDoT says, is partially funded through ticket revenue, but still needs state funds to operate. Unfortunately, recent increases in operational costs due to equipment and maintenance needs combined with inflation, have made the I-41 service financially unsustainable without state funds.
While the I-41 Thruway Bus Service is being cut now, it may not be the last news about the corridor. In 2021, then-President Joe Biden signed the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), awarding $2.1 billion to Amtrak and its partners. This is the largest federal investment in public transit in history. From the BIL, WisDoT received four $500,000 grants through the Corridor Identification and Development Program to study new rail services in the state. The study corridors include: connecting Milwaukee to Minneapolis via Madison and Eau Claire; an additional daily round trip between Chicago and St. Paul via La Crosse to complement the Empire Builder; and increasing Hiawatha frequency and extending its service to Green Bay (through the Fox Valley along I-41).
Always wondered why there isn’t a connecting bus from Madison to the closest stop of the EB? I suspect the I-41 route will be awarded to a local coach operator not long from now.
GALEN — Years ago there was such a bus, Madison to Columbus. I’m talking, like 1972 when I rode it. Can’t say when it was discontinued.
Charles Landy opined:
” I’ve not seen much difference from one party to the other in support of Amtrak. A whole lot of credit to all the governors, Democrat and Republican both.”
How quickly (and conveniently) you forget Scott Walker, who bollocked up Amtrak extension of service between Milwaukee and St Paul (the very service that is currently called the “Boring Alice”…excuse me, the “Borealis”…which you so heavily lauded in previous comments. (And which you equally derided when Scott Walker scotched it during his tenure).
The second St. Paul train was never proposed at the time Scott Walker was governor.
You may be thinking, you probably are thinking, of Scott Walker killing the Madison train, which had been put forward by his Democrat predecessor Jim Doyle. The Madison train was a poorly thought through, amateurish proposal. To add to this, the Doyle administration called it “High Speed Rail”, which was neither true nor anywhere near the truth. On an indirect route via Wauwatosa, Elm Grove and Columbus (compared to IH 94, a straight shot), the train might have hit 70 mph for short stretches in rural Jefferson County. Had the Doyle administration called it a “train” instead of the mendacious “HSR”, it might have had a chance.
The Republicans in the legislature and/or the governor’s office have fully supported the Hiawatha, rebuilding MKE downtown Milwaukee, first building and now improving MKA General Mitchell Airport, and substituting an all-new Sturtevant (Racine) station for the previous ramshackle station a mile south.
CHARLES- The train to Madison would not have gone though Columbus, it would have departed from the CP lines at Watertown, and followed the state owned (operated by WSOR) line from there west through Waterloo and Sun Prairie into Madison. Most of the cost of the route would have been on improving this state owned section, which runs through marshland and was limited (IIRC) to 10 mph due to the condition of the tracks.
This is the most direct extant route available.
A more direct right-of-way exits, but you would have to reclaim and retrack the Hank Aaron and Glacial Drumlin state trails between Milwaukee and Cottage Grove to make this happen. The Glacial Drumlin trail segment has more curves than the Watertown to Sun Prairie line, so it would probably be less conducive to running faster trains, but it would have the advantage of running through Waukesha.
Yes Michael, I realized my mistake as soon as I hit “SEND”, of course Watertown, not Columbus. Sorry ’bout that.
I frequently ride the bike trails you mention (including two different trails earlier today). The chance of reclaiming a bike trail for a railroad are pretty damn slim, which is to say, non-existent. Rail-banking is a comforting myth for passenger train advocates. Once a former rail line becomes a linear park, it’s sacrosanct. Whether the owner is Waukesha County Parks, Milwaukee County Parks, or Wisconsin DNR, they won’t give it up.
In any case, the difficulty of connecting ex-MILW and ex-CNW lines is non-trivial.
Former rail lines through Waukesha have been built over.
Probably got singled out for cuts because it an Amtrak service, I suspect other subsidized services with regional carriers like Badger lines were spared with the appropriate palm greasing.
Okay, Galen. Bear in mind that while Republicans control the purse strings (both the Wisconsin State Senate and the Wisconsin State Assembly are majority Republican) the executive branch including WisDOT is under the control of the Democrat governor.
I have lived in Wisconsin a long time under governors of both parties. I’ve not seen much difference from one party to the other in support of Amtrak. A whole lot of credit to all the governors, Democrat and Republican both.
That I know of, and I may be wrong, the State of Wisconsin subsidizes several intercity bus services, not just the Amtrak I-41 route. Why this particular route was cut, I can’t guess.
It would be interesting to know the ridership figures for this service, i.e., how many people are actually using it?
It would also be interesting to see how much of an increase in bus fares would be needed to avoid having state funding. Also, when was the last time this bus service had its fares increased?