Wisconsin Intercity Passenger Rail Part of the Midwest Chicago Hub Network Arun Rao, Passenger Rail Manager Wisconsin Department of Transportation

Intercity Passenger Rail in Wisconsin Existing Services Amtrak Hiawatha Service Amtrak Empire Builder Amtrak Thruway buses Current department focus for passenger rail: Maintain and improve existing passenger rail service and corridors So we have of course the Hiawatha Service, state supported corridor between Milwaukee and Chicago which also serves the airport, the Racine, WI area, and Glenview, IL in the northern suburbs of Chicago; The Empire Builder, Amtrak long distance train traversing the state on its way to twin cities, and Seattle/Portaland, both connecting the state to the Chicago hub. And Amtrak thruway coach services that extend the reach of the rail service to other parts of the state. This is something that we are trying to expand through coordination and facilitation among Amtrak and private bus companies, and through our IC bus 5311 program. 10/6/2016

Milwaukee-Chicago Hiawatha Service WisDOT IDOT Amtrak Metra CP Rail Seven round-trips daily, 6 on Sunday 86 miles, shortest Amtrak route in US Operates over CP and Metra Milwaukee to Chicago/Midwest hub in 89 minutes Features one of four Amtrak stations within an airport: Milwaukee Airport Rail Station 6th busiest state supported route, 800,000 riders Weekdays: 42% work commute; 25% business trip; 34% of tickets paid by employers 20% multi-ride, higher on weekdays 70% passengers would drive if train were not available One of few unreserved state-supported trains OTP in the mid 90s 6th busiest corridor after Keystone, CA, Empire 10/6/2016

Hiawatha Service ridership Doubled since we went to 7 RT back in 2003 10/6/2016

Hiawatha Service: Challenges Seating capacity issues on peak trains with standees; pressure to add coaches Pressure for additional stations Need for additional frequencies Limited capacity that host railroads are willing to use for ICPR on a busy rail corridor: 60 Metra trains 25 freight trains 16 Amtrak trains Pressure to add coaches: we have had to do that in September due to a surge in ridership from changing commuting patterns associated with major corporations in SE Wisconsin; very large cost since we are at 6 car consists and when you go to 7th car, under union rules you need another AC. So even an additional coach car full of new passengers is not enough revenue to offset the cost of the additional coach. 10/6/2016

Hiawatha Service Initiatives Ongoing improvements; just this year: Addition of new Saturday night trains Track side roll on bikes and pets on trains Implementation of new peak/off-peak fare system, remaining unreserved Hiawatha Marketing program using CMAQ funds Hiawatha 10 RT Corridor Investment Plan (EA/SDP) .

Hiawatha Marketing Program We have a CMAQ funded marketing campaign underway whicn includes web, social, print, radio. Crystal Dupont is our marketing manager and is here today. She and the mkt firm have done some excellent work and if you have any question on that, please let her know. 10/6/2016

Chicago-Milwaukee ICPR Corridor EA and SDP WisDOT IDOT FRA In partnership with Amtrak Environmental Assessment and Service Development Plan 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 Draft Completed; Released October 6th, 2016 with public involvement in October/November $150 million in infrastructure Very excited to say that this has been released to the public today, after a 4 year effort. Took much longer than expected and many twist and turns with the RR coordination and changing needs, etc. It is a complex corridor. But this will address capacity issues and increasing ridership, improve connections to other modes (airport) and provide improve transportation alternatives in this congested transportation corridor by providing more train schedule options , which are highly desired by existing and would-be rail users. 10/6/2016

2nd Empire Builder Frequency Twin Cities –La Crosse- Milwaukee-Chicago Existing Empire Builder Chicago- Seattle/Portland Over 100,000 riders annually Chicago-TC Most using for regional travel: 70% of ons/offs in Wisconsin are travelling to locations within that corridor segment Feasibility study for 2nd train completed in 2015: 2nd round-trip Chicago-TC on the Empire Builder corridor Existing stations; convenient times that complement the Empire Builder schedule Favorable ridership and revenue projections supported advancing to the next step Despite schedule limitations, 1 RT per day, and reliability issues eastbound, strong regional ridership on EB; people trying to use for regional travel. To meet this demand and address the issues, states asked Amtrak to conduct… 10/6/2016

2nd Empire Builder Frequency: TCMC Phase 1 Study Partners MnDOT WisDOT IDOT FRA Ramsey County, MN La Crosse, WI MPO MN HS Rail Commission Next phase: Twin Cities - Milwaukee - Chicago Intercity Passenger Rail Service Phase 1 Study TCMC study includes: Analysis of integration with Hiawatha Service Further operations/capacity modeling and infrastructure needs identification Concept engineering and capital cost estimates for identified infrastructure Pre-NEPA activities (Purpose and need, alternatives analysis, outreach) Expected completion summer 2017 Phase 2 (starting next year) will complete NEPA/SDP requirements for federal funding to implement TCMC began this summer, builds off of the feasibility study, and includes… 10/6/2016

New Milwaukee Intermodal Station Train Concourse Opened in June, 2016 New roof structure Pedestrian overhead access to platforms with escalators and elevators Three new ADA compliant platforms and signage Completion: June 2016 Cost: $22 million Nearly 600,000 rail passengers passing through this concourse annually 10/6/2016

MIDWEST EQUIPMENT POOL Illinois Michigan Missouri Wisconsin Tim and John already spoke about this, but just want t add that this is pretty significant. The MW states have been doing joint planning work together for 20+ years with the MWIRRI, etc. and now we have actually come together to jointly implement something; new equipment, with an joint ownership agreement in place for locos and cars, fleet manager on board, Midwest fleet board governance structure pretty much set up, Very significant and just the beginning I believe for joint MW state activities for our state supported corridors. And now FRA will be bringing us together again with the regional joint planning study. Ridership opening up more markets, not just individual corridors in a vacuum: Marketing Milwaukee to Detroit/Ann Arbor or Milwaukee to St. Louis helps either thru implementing a tighter and easier connection at Union or with thru trains increases riders on both routes Improvements to Union Station going to improve linkages Working together on items with Amtrak that affect all corridors, working as a group more, from equipment mechanical issues to planning to other operational issues Moved from planning (MWRRI) together to implementing together (MW fleet ownership; MW Fleet board, joint procurement). Significant. 10/6/2016