An anonymous listener recently slipped a note through the Bubbler Talk ticket window, asking if it’s true that Amtrak will finally offer a second daily roundtrip passenger train between Milwaukee and the Twin Cities.
The people who conduct these matters say the answer is — yes.
Starting on May 21, what’s being called Amtrak-Borealis will run from Chicago, through Milwaukee, central and western Wisconsin, to Saint Paul, making the same stops in that corridor as Amtrak’s long-established Empire Builder. But unlike that train, Borealis won’t go on to North Dakota, Montana, and the West Coast. It’ll come back east, making the same Wisconsin stops before heading to the Windy City.
The westbound departure from Milwaukee will be in the early afternoon, four hours before Empire Builder leaves, and the eastbound arrival will be a couple hours later than the Empire Builder, giving rail passengers some alternatives.
The second daily train is lovely news to Laura LaFontaine, who was recently at the Milwaukee Amtrak station getting ready to take the Empire Builder to see relatives in the Twin Cities.
“I was very happy to hear about it. Happy to have it be added. That’s a destination that’s going to be frequent for us. I think we will probably take advantage of it," LaFontaine says.
Another Milwaukeean about to hop on the Empire Builder, David Laur, says he believes the Borealis will also beckon shoppers based on the great time he had taking his kids on the train to the Mall of America in suburban St. Paul.
“That’d be a fun ride from Chicago to Saint Paul and back. And they could see how nice our state is, and there’s a fun mall they can go to," Laur says.
Rail passenger groups have been pushing for nearly a decade to get Amtrak and the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota to band together and develop the second daily train.
The main reason, says Terry Brown of the Wisconsin Association of Rail Passengers (WisARP,) is the eastbound Empire Builder often runs behind schedule by the time it reaches Wisconsin, usually because of storms or ice in the western U.S. or other problems in isolated areas.
“The biggest point that I think everyone’s been pounding on is the eastbound Empire Builder can be incredibly late. It can be a frustrating, erratic performer when you think of what the schedule says and when it will actually arrive. The hope is that the eastbound Borealis, originating in St. Paul, will reduce, if not eliminate, some of these crazy, erratic performances," Brown says.
But being on time is only one factor travelers consider. There’s often the issue of cost. The three states have teamed up to offer coach fares on Borealis starting at only $41 each way between St. Paul and Chicago, with everyday discounts for kids, students, seniors, military personnel and veterans.
Brown says that the effort to keep prices lower is similar to a route in Illinois.
“Illinois’ Amtrak services, like the Lincoln train that goes from Chicago to St. Louis, they intentionally make the ticket prices low to get as many people as possible to ride the train. In turn, the result of that is that the bill that Amtrak gives the state of Illinois for that train is higher than it could be," Brown explains.
Brown says the amount of the subsidy from Wisconsin and other states will play out in coming months, and there could be later ticket price adjustments.
But for now, rider Laura LaFontaine says as a taxpayer, she doesn’t mind assisting the train.
“I support public transportation options. I personally think it’s a good investment for government to do because it’s just great to have more options," she says.
Amtrak projects Borealis will have 232,000 riders in its first full year.
Unlike the Empire Builder, it won’t have double-decker passenger cars. Instead, the ride will be on single-level, so-called horizon cars, like you can find on the Hiawatha train service between Milwaukee and Chicago.
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