A listener who gave his name as "Billy" sent Bubbler Talk a couple of very pointed questions:
Why are there no trains anywhere? Why did we remove them?
Billy, we're going to run your quiz down the following track. First, you can find freight trains chugging through the Milwaukee area day and night.
So, let's focus this story on passenger trains.
It's true that many were removed in the post-World War Two era by private rail companies. Terry Brown, of the Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers, says several factors arrived at about the same time.
"The interstate highway system [was built.] Passenger cars got better and more comfortable, and commercial airlines came in. So, by 1971 when Amtrak was created, almost all of the freight carriers had, in one form or another, discontinued their passenger rail service," Brown tells WUWM.
But Amtrak, with the help of taxpayers, has kept passenger rail alive in Milwaukee. The Hiawatha service offers at least six roundtrips every day between downtown Milwaukee and downtown Chicago.
WUWM recently took an early morning southbound Hiawatha, listening as the conductor announced a stop in Racine County.
"Ladies and Gentlemen — coming up here in just a moment is our next station stop of Sturtevant. If Sturtevant is your final stop, please gather your belongings," the conductor said.
Amtrak also operates a long-distance train — the Empire Builder, which stops daily in Milwaukee on the way from Chicago to St. Paul- Minneapolis, and continues all the way to the Pacific Northwest. The train stops in Milwaukee eastbound, too.
In fact, the goal is later this year, with the help of nearly a half-million dollars in the just-passed state budget, Wisconsin will team with Minnesota, Illinois and Amtrak to offer a second daily train, called the TCMC, between the Twin Cities, Milwaukee and Chicago.
Lisa Stern, chief of railroads and harbors at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, says the TCMC will provide another option for going the 400 miles from Chicago to St. Paul.
"There will better reliability, especially for those eastbound trains than what we've been getting from the Empire Builder. Additionally, you know, the Empire Builder sells out pretty quickly and this will provide a regional option for folks. So, I think we're pretty excited here at the department," Stern says.
There are still key details to work out for the TCMC, including a final timetable.
But the Evers administration already has other passenger rail plans, too, including —eventually — extending the Hiawatha train to Green Bay and separately to Madison.
The state has applied to the Biden administration for planning funds. And while not the final word, Amtrak Vice President Ray Lang told WUWM in Chicago that Wisconsin has a good chance of getting the money.
"Wisconsin is already an existing state partner for Amtrak. They already fund inter-city service. They have new inter-city service coming in partnership with Minnesota between Chicago and St. Paul. So, they're a state with a deep bench, the expertise to do this, on good corridors," Lang said.
Lang spoke after a news conference held by Illinois officials to mark the recent beginning of Amtrak trains going 110 miles per hour most of the way from Chicago to St. Louis. The current top speed for other Midwest trains, including the Hiawatha, is 79 mph.
Illinois U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D) attended the news event. So did former U.S. Transportation Secretary and Illinois Republican Congressman Ray LaHood. LaHood said some of the funds for higher-speed rail came from then-Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker rejecting Milwaukee-to-Madison federal rail money almost 15 years ago.
"Now this is really ancient history. Two Republican governors turned down the money for high speed rail, one in Florida, one in Wisconsin — and I say stupidly they turned it down. Sen. Durbin was one of the first people on the phone. 'How do we get that money in Illinois?'" LaHood recalled Durbin asking.
Now, Wisconsin is trying to catch up to Illinois and other states — in frequency and speed of passenger rail service.
How will the Badger State do?
Listener Billy, send us another Bubbler Talk question about trains in a few years.
Have a question you'd like WUWM to answer? Submit your query below.
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