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Borealis (train)

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Great River
A Hiawatha Service train, one of which will be extended to St. Paul for the new Great River service.
Overview
Service typeInter-city rail
StatusPlanned
LocaleMidwestern United States
First serviceSummer 2023
Current operatorAmtrak
Route
TerminiChicago, Illinois
St. Paul, Minnesota
Average journey time7:11 westbound, 7:27 eastbound
Service frequencyDaily
Train number333, 340
Technical
Rolling stockSiemens Charger locomotive, Siemens Venture coaches
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Operating speed79 miles per hour (127 km/h) (top)
Track owners

The Great River[1] is a planned Amtrak intercity rail train that will operate in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota between Chicago and St. Paul. It will be an extension of an existing Hiawatha Service train. This train will follow the routing of the Empire Builder for the entirety of its route and the Hiawatha Service from Chicago to Milwaukee.

Background

Originally, the Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago (TCMC) Corridor was operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. The Milwaukee Road ran numerous passenger trains from Chicago to St. Paul and beyond including the famous Twin Cities Hiawatha and Olympian Hiawatha. When Amtrak took over intercity passenger trains in 1971, only the Empire Builder continued serving the corridor. For a time, the North Coast Hiawatha and the North Star served this route as well.

As of December 2021, the Empire Builder continues to run daily, while the Hiawatha service runs seven additional round trips per day between Chicago and Milwaukee.[2]

The TCMC project began in 2015 after the conclusion of a feasibility report by Amtrak.[3] Based on the favorable ridership and revenue projections MnDOT led a Phase 1 study in cooperation with WisDOT, IDOT, the Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority and the FRA to analyze service alternatives, infrastructure upgrades and anticipated costs. The Phase 2 study was led by WisDOT to complete the environmental review and prepare a Service Development Plan.[4]

Infrastructure upgrades for the project are required in La Crosse, La Crescent, Winona and St. Paul. The total capital cost is $53.3 million, which has been fully funded by federal grants, WisDOT and MnDOT.[5][6] The project is currently scheduled to begin construction in 2023 and begin operations with one train in 2023.[7] The TCMC service is anticipated to be the first phase of additional Amtrak service across Wisconsin and Minnesota with eventual extensions to Madison, WI, Eau Claire, WI and Duluth, MN.

In a public meeting on December 1, 2022, an Amtrak representative expected the service to start by summer 2023 with the name Great River.[1] Two additional round-trips will be added following completion of construction.[citation needed]

Operation

The Great River train will make 13 total stops from Chicago to St. Paul. Westbound, the journey will take 7 hours and 11 minutes, while it will take 7 hours 27 minutes eastbound. Each direction, the train will have a 5 minute long stop in Milwaukee.[8]

The train will be not be a completely new service, but will rather extend an existing Hiawatha Service train from Milwaukee to St. Paul and back. The trains that will be extended are numbers 333 and 340, with train 333 departing Chicago at 11:05am and train 340 arriving in Chicago at 7:14pm.[8] An eventual re-route through Madison is in the long term plans for the Great River route. This change in routing would likely follow the Wisconsin & Southern Watertown Subdivision and Canadian Pacific's M&P Subdivision bypassing the Columbus station which is currently considered the Madison stop along the route.

Ridership is projected to be 124,000 passengers per year in 2024.[5]

Route and stops

State Town/City Station Connections
Illinois Chicago Chicago Union Station Amtrak: Blue Water, Cardinal, Capitol Limited, California Zephyr, City of New Orleans, Empire Builder, Hiawatha Service, Illini, Lake Shore Limited, Lincoln Service, Pere Marquette, Saluki, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle, Wolverine, Thruway Motorcoach
CTA Buses: 1, 7, 14, 19, 20, X20, X28, 56, 60, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 128, 129, 130, 151, 156, 157, 192
Megabus: M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M7
Flixbus
Metra: North Central Service, Milwaukee District/North Line, Milwaukee District/West Line, BNSF Railway Line, Heritage Corridor, SouthWest Service
Glenview Glenview Amtrak: Empire Builder, Hiawatha Service
Metra: Milwaukee District/North Line
Pace: 210, 422, 423
Wisconsin Sturtevant Sturtevant Amtrak: Hiawatha Service
Milwaukee Milwaukee Airport Amtrak: Hiawatha Service
Milwaukee Intermodal Station Amtrak: Empire Builder, Hiawatha Service
The Hop: M Line
MCTS Buses: Blue Line, 12, 31, 34, 57
Columbus Columbus Amtrak: Empire Builder
Portage Portage Amtrak: Empire Builder
Wisconsin Dells Wisconsin Dells Amtrak: Empire Builder
Tomah Tomah Amtrak: Empire Builder
La Crosse La Crosse Amtrak: Empire Builder
Minnesota Winona Winona Amtrak: Empire Builder
Red Wing Red Wing Amtrak: Empire Builder
St. Paul St. Paul Union Depot Amtrak: Empire Builder
Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach
Greyhound Lines
Jefferson Lines
Megabus
Metro Transit: Metro Green Line; Buses 3, 21, 54, 63, 70, 94
Minnesota Valley Transit Authority Buses: 480, 484, 489

References

  1. ^ a b "Amtrak® Board of Directors Public Meeting – Attendee Q&A" (PDF). Amtrak. December 1, 2022. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  2. ^ "Amtrak Tickets, Schedules and Train Routes".
  3. ^ https://www.dot.state.mn.us/passengerrail/pdfs/2nd-train-feasibility-report%20.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  4. ^ "Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago Intercity Passenger Rail Service - MnDOT".
  5. ^ a b https://wisconsindot.gov/Documents/projects/multimodal/rail/TCMC-booklet20210526.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  6. ^ Ferraro, Nick (June 28, 2021). "State moves forward with second daily Amtrak train to Chicago. Service could begin in 2024". Twin Cities Pioneer Press.
  7. ^ "Wisconsin Department of Transportation Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago Intercity Passenger Rail Service".
  8. ^ a b "Twin Cities - Milwaukee - Chicago Intercity Passenger Rail Project Public Presentation". YouTube. Wisconsin DOT.
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