Airport Train Station Expansion Rolling Along

Milwaukee Airport Rail Station construction. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

There is life on MARS.

But MARS, in this case, is the Milwaukee Airport Rail Station.

Construction on a second platform at the southside passenger station is now much closer to completion than when we profiled the project in September 2023. The addition of a second platform is a key infrastructure upgrade necessary to expand the number of daily Amtrak Hiawatha Service trains.

But there is still plenty of work to go on the project, which is scheduled to be completed next June.

Part of the reason for the slow progress is that the station continues to serve 14 daily Amtrak Hiawatha trains.

The double-tracked rail line is also heavily used by freight trains from owner Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). And every time one rumbles by, a foreman blows an air horn and all workers must move at least 15 feet from the track. Two cross country Amtrak Empire Builder trains also roll by, but do not stop.

Zenith Tech received a $17.2 million construction contract to build an 800-foot-long concrete platform, elevator towers, a skywalk across the two-track rail line and a host of improvements to the surrounding track.

MARS is located at 5601 S. 6th St., on the western edge of the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport grounds. But despite its airport name and proximity, the station’s primary audience is residents who live south of Downtown and are looking to get to Chicago. The station’s large surface parking lot and proximity to the airport freeway spur make it a convenient alternative for those who otherwise would drive Downtown to Milwaukee Intermodal Station.

Among those who have recently visited the station are U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Governor Tony Evers. As part of a press event, the two prominent Democrats shared an approximately 15-minute ride aboard the Hiawatha from MARS to the Intermodal Station.

At a press conference after the ride, both endorsed expanding rail service in Wisconsin and the public demand for it. The ride came on the heels of strong initial ridership of the Amtrak Borealis, which launched in May. The new train, a once-a-day extension of the Hiawatha to St. Paul, adds a second daily trip between the Twin Cities, western Wisconsin, Milwaukee and Chicago.

Expanding MARS will offer a key efficiency: trains will be able to stop on either of the two tracks. The 14 trains per day that currently stop at the station can only do so on the eastern track. That single-side stopping creates an operational bottleneck when scheduling the faster passenger trains around slower, longer freight trains.

But as the project’s price tag proves, that efficiency comes at an upfront cost. As it previously did for the Sturtevant station, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) designed an enclosed walkway across the double-tracked mainline. Two elevators will be located in each tower and a host of improvements are planned.

MARS originally opened in 2005. The current Sturtevant station opened in 2006. WisDOT received a $5 million federal grant to fund the MARS expansion in 2019.

For those who make the train-plane connection, an on-call shuttle bus operates between the station and airport. Expanding the frequency of the Hiawatha could make it more appealing for Illinois or southern Wisconsin residents to use the train-plane link because waiting times for the train component would be shorter.

While the station is owned by WisDOT, the rail line is owned by CPKC. The railroad will allow an additional round trip on its tracks in exchange for a series of infrastructure upgrades, including the new platform and two projects near the downtown station. An earlier agreement to allow three additional round trips is on hold after Illinois canceled plans in 2019 to build a holding siding for freight trains in the Chicago suburbs.

WisDOT is awaiting a second federal grant to execute the Muskego Yard bypass project. Securing that grant is necessary to add the eighth daily Hiawatha roundtrip. The project involves creating a new two-track mainline track through CPKC’s Muskego Yard in the Menomonee Valley, allowing trains with double-stacked shipping containers to avoid the downtown train station. The project’s escalating cost, including from inflation and bridge replacements, caused WisDOT to pursue a second grant. It originally won a $26.6 million grant in 2020 for what was to be a $55 million project.

Through a web of federal regulations, host railroads can demand infrastructure improvements that primarily benefit their operations in exchange for allowing expanded passenger rail service. The CPKC mainline between downtown Milwaukee and the Illinois border is among Wisconsin’s most heavily used rail corridors.

Photos

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Renderings

Pre-Construction Photos

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