Anyone think the Amtrak Hiawatha line could benefit from greater frequency? (Milwaukee: live in, price)

[reppin_the_847]

I'm from Lake County, Illinois (just a few miles south of the WI / IL border) and I truly believe that SE WI and NE IL can benefit from greater interconnectedness. There are MANY folks from SE Wisconsin that work for employers in my county.

I've always been fascinated by Amtrak's "Hiawatha" line that connects Chicago to Milwaukee. The line is one of the few Amtrak lines that is actually profitable, reliable, and fast. I do think the price to ride the train is a bit steep, but that is not the main point of my post. I think that the line is hurt a bit by the fact that the LAST train leaving Chicago at night is at 8:05 PM. The final train that makes the trip from Milwaukee to Chicago departs at 7:35 PM. To me, this seems a bit ridiculous. Let's say you're a Brewer fan in Milwaukee that's headed down to Chicago for a Brewers - Cubs game via Amtrak. You can't make it back the same night via Amtrak unfortunately because the service ends so early. Same thing for one of us "FIBS" that decide to take the train up to Miller Park, lol. We're screwed. I know that Governor Walker screwed over a lot of WI's hopes of landing better high-speed rail service including service to Madison. However, even Walker was scrambling recently to get some additional funds improved Hiawatha service because it is a busy, important, and proven train line between two true cities. Last I heard, he may not get those funds because he rejected the hundreds of millions or billions of fed money that WI could have taken from the table several months ago for the Madison service.

So my question is, if additional funds are granted should the Amtrak add additional runs on the Hiawatha to include later night service such as a 10:30 PM run and maybe a midnight or 12:30 AM run out of Chicago to Milwaukee? And 2nd question is, should the Hiawatha add a stop in Lake County, IL? Eventually the Glenview stop will be moved to the North Glenview Metra stop. Perhaps they can add a Hiawatha stop at Lake Forest, IL where there is already a Metra station. Such a stop could serve the folks of Lake County, IL and the SE Wisconsin residents that want to commute to jobs in this area of Lake County. A study is already being commissioned on adding a stop in Lake Forest FYI.

Right now I think your only other options for Chicago to WI public transportation includes the Megabus, Greyhound (including Greyhound Express), and Metra service to Kenosha. I'm not sure what the other options are.

I'd love to get thoughts & feedback from people in WI (and IL folks if they're on here as well). Thanks!

[Chelito23]

I think a high speed rail would be more pratical but pretty much a fantasy as this point.

In its absence, increased train frequency and improvements to tracks and crossings to allow the train to go faster would also help.

I think having a local and express train would make sense for commuters and inter-connectedness.

As times goes by, SE Wisconsin is blending into Lake County. Eventually the whole area between MKE and Chicago will be engulfed by sprawl and growth and there will be little open land left. Hopefully while that happens, there is more vision or alternatives other than a 10 lane freeway linking the region.

[BereniceUK]

I took the Hiawatha Line from Milwaukee to St Paul a week last Friday and was surprised at how many passengers got off the train at St Paul. Perhaps a second train a day could run from Chicago to St Paul, and from St Paul to Chicago, in addition to the present one?

[j.f]

You must have been on the Empire Builder - Chicago to Seattle/Portland - the Hiawatha only runs between Chicago and Milwaukee. Agreed that an additional Chicago-St Paul train would be a good idea.

Originally Posted by BereniceUK

I took the Hiawatha Line from Milwaukee to St Paul a week last Friday and was surprised at how many passengers got off the train at St Paul. Perhaps a second train a day could run from Chicago to St Paul, and from St Paul to Chicago, in addition to the present one?

[CHIP72]

I don't live in SE Wisconsin or NE Illinois, but I am periodic Amtrak rider (on the Northeast Corridor and also very occasionally for Washington-Richmond; I probably take 6-8 roundtrips on Amtrak per year) and from looking at the Amtrak system timetable I have long thought the last departures from both Chicago and Milwaukee were too early. At least Megabus has later departures, at least to my knowledge. I think the limiting factors for service frequency and last departures are 1) there are only 2 train sets for the Hiawatha Service and (not sure about this) 2) there may be freight traffic on the line after 10 PM.

FWIW, when I visited Chicago in July 2009, I took a day trip to Milwaukee one of the days I was there to check out downtown Milwaukee and see a Brewers game (after seeing both the Cubs and White Sox a couple times each, including a day-night doubleheader one day, and checking much of Chicago accessible on the "L" earlier in the week of course ). The game started at 6:05 PM CT on a Saturday. I took Amtrak for the Chicago to Milwaukee portion, and Megabus for the Milwaukee to Chicago portion (though the 6 PM start time for the game cut it tight for the last Megabus departure; I got to the pickup point with 10 minutes to spare and only missed 1/2 inning). The Amtrak Hiawatha worked great, and the train wasn't crowded (by Northeast Corridor or even Keystone Corridor standards).

Incidentally, if you think the Hiawatha Service is expensive, you should ride the Amtrak NE Corridor trains or any Amtrak train that goes to New York sometime (which includes most Keystone Service and all Empire Service trains). The minimum cost one-way for a Washington-New York train is $49, and the minimum one-way cost for Washington-Philadelphia is $35. (Washington is about 230 miles from New York and 135 miles from Philadelphia.) If you don't get the cheapest rate, the next-lowest fares are (I think) $74 and $46 one-way respectively. The Acelas are a lot more (at least twice as expensive and frequently more than that).

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

I'm from Lake County, Illinois (just a few miles south of the WI / IL border) and I truly believe that SE WI and NE IL can benefit from greater interconnectedness. There are MANY folks from SE Wisconsin that work for employers in my county.

Right now I think your only other options for Chicago to WI public transportation includes the Megabus, Greyhound (including Greyhound Express), and Metra service to Kenosha. I'm not sure what the other options are.!

I have to admit that I AVOID Amtrak out of Chicago like the plague. I have never seen a train leave on time, especially heading west.

Megabus DOES leave on time and is generally cheaper than AMTRAK (although the last minute fare are $18 for Megabus vs $22 for AMTRAK.)

What I found more amazing the the difference in the fares to Minneapolis last minute. Megabus is $28-40; Amtrak $130.

For the record, CoachUSA offers nearly hourly service from O'Hare to the Milwaukee airport, downtown Milwaukee, and Waukesha for $27 OW, $48 RT.