Press Release: ICYMI: Gov. Evers, U.S. Sen. Baldwin Secure $218 Million to Expand Passenger Rail into Dane, Jefferson, and Waukesha Counties

State of Wisconsin sent this bulletin at 10/16/2026 12:13 PM CDT
Office of Governor Tony Evers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 16, 2026
Contact: GovPress@wisconsin.gov 
 
ICYMI: Gov. Evers, U.S. Sen. Baldwin Secure $218 Million to Expand Passenger Rail into Dane, Jefferson, and Waukesha Counties
 
MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) today announced that, following their advocacy earlier this year, they successfully secured over $218 million to expand Amtrak’s Hiawatha passenger rail service in Wisconsin, strengthening a critical freight corridor that supports Wisconsin’s economy and reviving a long-thwarted effort to expand passenger rail. The Hiawatha West Project, which is funded by the Baldwin-backed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will create an intercity passenger rail service between Chicago and Waukesha, Jefferson, and Dane counties.

“We’ve been working hard to build the safe, reliable 21st-century infrastructure needed to support Wisconsin’s growing 21st-century economy and workforce, and we’re excited to move this critical project forward to do just that,” said Gov. Evers. “We’re creating new passenger rail opportunities for folks to get to and from work, school, and other activities, all while creating 200 good-paying, family-supporting jobs that fuel our economy, and that’s a win-win for Wisconsin. I’m grateful for all the good work Sen. Baldwin and the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have done to support essential projects like these across our state.”

“Expanding passenger rail means more safe, easy ways to get to and from work or school, more tourists coming into our communities and buying things in our shops, and more good-paying jobs across our state,” said Senator Baldwin. “For our agricultural and manufacturing businesses that use freight rail, this investment will reduce delays and give them reliability and confidence that their products are getting in the hands of customers on time. I am proud to work with Governor Evers to bring home this investment to get folks where they need to go safely, support our Main Street businesses, and keep Wisconsin’s agricultural and manufacturing industries the powerhouses they are.”

The federal funding comes from the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program and will be used to rehabilitate and expand the capacity of track, bridges, and crossings, and construct new intercity passenger rail stations. CRISI is supported by the Baldwin-Backed Bipartisan Infrastructure bill and also Fiscal Year 2025 and Fiscal Year 2026 annual government funding bills, which Sen. Baldwin voted for. Notably, every Republican member of Wisconsin’s Congressional delegation voted against the BIL.

This comes as in August, Gov. Tony Evers, together with Sen. Baldwin and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, in partnership with Amtrak, celebrated the state’s efforts to successfully secure over $140 million from the FRA to update up to 41 Charger locomotives, which serve Amtrak’s Midwest and Pacific Northwest routes, including the Milwaukee-Chicago Hiawatha route. The FRA investment in Wisconsin is part of a larger $5.3 billion federal investment in rail projects across the country through the National Railroad Partnership Program (NRPP), which is funded by the BIL.

In recent decades, Wisconsin has seen several attempts to expand passenger rail across the state. In 2009, former Gov. Jim Doyle secured a deal with Talgo, a high-speed rail manufacturer, to build two new trains for the purpose of connecting the cities of Madison and Milwaukee, and in the same year, the state was awarded $810 million in federal funds to execute this project. However, in 2010, former Gov. Scott Walker rejected the $810 million in federal funds outright, derailing the project completely and causing the state to be sued by Talgo, which had already built the two new trains. The settlement required the state to pay $50 million to Talgo for the trains, which ultimately went to Nigeria instead of serving the people of Wisconsin.

Now, thanks to the work of Gov. Evers and Sen. Baldwin, this extension largely uses existing infrastructure with some one-time capital investments to improve track capacity and speeds for passenger service, enhance safety, and increase existing service reliability. The grant will fund key investments such as bridge rehabilitations, track and crossing upgrades, and ADA-accessible temporary station platforms in Madison, Watertown, and Pewaukee.

The Hiwatha West Project will have numerous benefits all across Wisconsin, including:   
  • Providing a new connection for families, workers, and students to major economic centers;
  • Making it easier for people to travel between Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago without driving;
  • Improving freight rail safety, speeds, and reliability, decreasing travel times for freight trains;
  • Creating conditions that would support future economic growth for the state; and
  • Creating an estimated 200 permanent jobs and approximately $46 million in annual economic benefits.

The city of Madison, under Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, has previously been connected to several large economic hubs in the Midwest, such as Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Chicago. However, due to federal legislation that reconstructed passenger rail and created Amtrak, the city has not seen passenger rail since 1971. In preparation for a potential planned expansion of the Hiawatha route, last year, the city of Madison completed a Passenger Rail Station Study in coordination with WisDOT in November 2025. The study evaluated six corridors and eight potential sites to help identify the best location for a future Amtrak station in Madison.

In May 2024, Amtrak, in partnership with Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois, extended passenger rail service with the Borealis Train route, connecting St. Paul, Minnesota, with Chicago, Illinois, via a connection in Milwaukee. Since its inception two years ago, the Borealis has safely and reliably served more than 416,000 passengers. Between the Amtrak Empire Builder trains and the state-sponsored Hiawatha Service trains, the corridor ridership has grown by 27 percent in two years, reaching a ridership of nearly 1.8 million passengers.
 
An online version of this release is available here.
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