Milwaukee – Chicago ICPR Corridor: Hiawatha Service Expansion

Council on Rail Transportation

Arun Rao, Passenger Rail Manager Wisconsin Department of Transportation

CORT, Miami, FL, September 12th, 2018 Milwaukee-Chicago Amtrak Hiawatha Service • Operating support jointly financed by Wisconsin (75%) and Illinois (25%) • 7 Round-trips daily: Milwaukee Intermodal- Milwaukee Airport – Sturtevant, WI – Glenview, IL - Chicago Union Station • 89 minute scheduled travel time • Operates on CP Rail in Wisconsin and Metra in Illinois

10/6/2016 CORT, Miami, FL, September 12th, 2018 2 Amtrak Hiawatha Service State Fiscal Year Milwaukee-Chicago Ridership 900,000 Amtrak Hiawatha Service800,000 700,000 600,000 • 500,000 830,000 riders SFY18; 400,000 continuing upward trend in 300,000 ridership 200,000 100,000

• Ridership and revenue have 0

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 more than doubled since the 2005 service increased to 7 round- trips in 2003 • In state fiscal year 2018, nearly 75% of total costs were covered by ticket revenues. • 94% on –time performance

10/6/2016 CORT, Miami, FL, September 12th, 2018 3 Ridership profile and benefits to business community

• Overall 58% non work related trips, 42% business or commuting. • 23% daily commuters on weekdays • 19% less than daily commuting weekdays • 25% on weekdays going to/from business trip/meeting • 67% total business or commuter travel on weekdays: • 34% tickets on weekdays paid for by employers • 10% transferring to other Amtrak trains • Regular riders from companies with facilities or subsidiaries/clients in Milwaukee and Chicago, including, for example: • SC Johnson, Case, Miller, Coors, Johnson Controls, Northwestern Mutual, US Bank, Rockwell Automation, Manpower, and many more. • Business community calling for more frequencies

10/6/2016 CORT, Miami, FL, September 12th, 2018 4 Growing demand for rail service on the corridor • Demand and need for increased frequencies has been identified for years and growing fast • Standing room only conditions regularly on peak trains – In peak season such as summer, this averages 19 trains per month, mostly on weekdays, and increasing. • Challenges to adding cars to the consists • Surges on peak trains, excess capacity off-peak • Nearing the tipping point of having to permanently add more cars to meet current demand • Economic developments such as Foxconn have accentuated the need and pushed to a high priority

10/6/2016 CORT, Miami, FL, September 12th, 2018 5 State initiatives to improve the service and address challenges

• Midwest state-owned equipment pool of locomotives and cars • 33 Siemens Charger locomotives and 88 Siemens Single-level cars • Hiawatha allocated 2 locomotives and 6 coach cars but more needed to fully equip the existing service • CRISI grant for additional equipment (6 coaches and 3 cab-coaches) to fully equip the Hiawatha • Cab-coach cars as part of the solution to corridor equipment needs – more seating • States initiatives to improve and promote a regional system with network connectivity in the Midwest • Recent schedule changes • Website • CMAQ funded 3rd party marketing contractor • Increasing frequencies

10/6/2016 CORT, Miami, FL, September 12th, 2018 6 Milwaukee-Chicago Corridor: Increasing to 10 Round-trips daily

 WisDOT • Corridor has 65 Metra

 IDOT commuter rail trains, 25 freight trains , and 16 Amtrak trains  FRA daily (proposed increase to 22 In partnership Amtrak) with Amtrak • Environmental Assessment (EA) and Service Development Plan (SDP) for the Chicago- Milwaukee Hiawatha Service corridor to: • add 3 additional daily round-trip frequencies, for a total of 10 round-trips daily • reduce travel time and improve reliability

10/6/2016 CORT, Miami, FL, September 12th, 2018 7 Milwaukee-Chicago 10 round- trips EA and SDP: Results • Over $195 million (2018 dollars) in railroad infrastructure improvements needed • Significant ridership growth forecasted with 10 round- trip schedule • 10 round-trip schedule addresses crucial needs/ transportation issues in the multimodal corridor • Adds AM peak departure from Milwaukee • Adds PM peak departure from Chicago • Adds night departures from both cities • Addresses overcrowding on peak trains.

10/6/2016 CORT, Miami, FL, September 12th, 2018 8 Milwaukee-Chicago 10 Round-trips EA and SDP: Projects

Railroad infrastructure projects (7 in Illinois, 3 in Wisconsin) needed to accommodate additional trains and maintain reliability Projects identified by Rail Traffic Controller Simulations and workshops with the host railroads (Metra and CP Rail), Amtrak, FRA, and the states. Total Railroad Infrastructure cost for 9 projects in IL and WI: $195 million

10/6/2016 CORT, Miami, FL, September 12th, 2018 9 Milwaukee-Chicago 10 Round-trips EA and SDP: Status • Draft Completed; Released October 6th, 2016 • Strong support from the business community in southeast Wisconsin and northern Illinois • Support from Wisconsin stakeholders and public • Strong opposition from residents and groups in Chicago north-shore suburban communities of Glenview and Lake Forest, IL to track projects and current freight noise and vibration. • Timeline of final EA extended into this fall to accomodate additional outreach needs in Illinois • WisDOT will submit all components of the EA to FRA by late fall

10/6/2016 CORT, Miami, FL, September 12th, 2018 10 Milwaukee-Chicago 10 Round- trips EA and SDP: Status

• Work completed January 2017 – present to address comments • Additional environmental analysis • Operations modeling • Refinements to projects • Analysis of alternative design options • Additional public outreach

10/6/2016 CORT, Miami, FL, September 12th, 2018 11 WisDOT Federal Grant Applications: Moving forward with 10 round-trips

• CRISI 2017 • Milwaukee Airport 2nd Platform: $10 million, $5 million federal share • 3 Cab-coach cars: $15 million, $7.5 million federal share • BUILD • Milwaukee Airport 2nd Platform plus CTC signaling upgrade near Milwaukee Intermodal: $15.4 million, $9.3 million federal share • CRISI 2018 • Milwaukee Airport 2nd Platform plus CTC signaling upgrade near Milwaukee Intermodal : $15.4 million, $7.7 million federal share • 6 Coach and 3 Cab-coach cars: $39 million, $25.6 million federal share

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