Raise Your Voice for New Train Service in Wisconsin

UPDATE: JUNE 2025

Legislative leaders have removed new passenger-rail funding (along with many other items) from the Governor’s proposed budget. Negotiations have broken down, and the Governor might veto the Legislature’s budget.

If the state does not have a new budget by June 30, funding will continue at the same level as the 2023-25 budget. For passenger rail, this means $7.3 million per year. Rising costs, however, put the ability to sustain current service in danger. Simply continuing the current funding level will also fail to provide the non-federal match required to continue engineering work for new and improved service.

Work on a new budget could resume after June 30. Key legislative leaders in both the Senate and Assembly oppose or do not favor passenger-rail expansion. However, other lawmakers (not from just one party) have expressed interest.

There are ways that more passenger-rail funding could still be put into a new state budget:

• Lawmakers could work to put it in. Given leadership’s position, lawmakers from the majority party would have the best chance of success. The amounts required are relatively small, and they are mostly one-time requests.

• The Governor could insist the money be included in any new budget that gets negotiated.

A guide for contacting your elected officials

Speaking personally to your elected officials is one of the most effective things that you can do on behalf of issues that you care about. If you would like to advocate for new and expanded train service in Wisconsin, please do at least one of the following things:

  1. Ask to personally meet with your state lawmaker
  2. Call your state lawmaker
  3. Personally email your state lawmaker

Especially at the state and local level, elected officials should be happy to meet with you or to hear from you directly. They should at least provide a staffer to speak with you, which is helpful because staff can be influential.

Here is a guide for each of the three options:

  1. Ask to meet personally with your elected official.
    This requires a little more from you, but it is the most effective option. Elected officials get lots of email. Taking time for a personal meeting shows commitment and makes an impression. From then on, when your elected official thinks about this issue, they will probably remember you. They will at least know that voters in their district care and are paying attention. Here is what to do:
    1. If you can think of anyone else from your area who might want to join you, invite them and find out their availability. Having more than one person in the meeting can make an even better impression.
    2. Look up or confirm contact information for your state lawmaker, using the “Find Your Legislator” tool on this page: https://legis.wisconsin.gov
    3. Call or email to request the meeting. Say that you are a constituent and where you are from. Say you would like to meet about better passenger train service for Wisconsin. If others might be joining, mention the approximate number of people who might be interested. If you have to leave a voicemail, include the details above but keep it brief, and provide your contact information.
    4. Review the suggested talking points (further below). It’s not a script, just a few suggestions.
    5. You don’t need to dress formally. Just try to make a good impression.
    6. During or right after the meeting, write down a few notes about how it went and what they said. Are they supportive? What did they ask about? Did they ask questions you couldn’t answer, or want more information?
    7. Let us know how it went! Share your notes and impressions with the High Speed Rail Alliance. Contact our Wisconsin-based deputy director, Christopher Ott.

 

  1. Call your elected official. This might not make as strong an impression as a meeting, but calling your elected official can be helpful too. Here is what to do:
    1. Look up or confirm contact information for your state lawmaker, using the “Find Your Legislator” tool on this page: https://legis.wisconsin.gov
    2. Review the suggested talking points (further below), and keep them handy.
    3. Call. Introduce yourself, make clear that you are a constituent, and say where you are from. Ask to speak briefly about better passenger train service for Wisconsin.
    4. If you are not already speaking with your elected official, politely ask to. If another time is offered, try to make that work.
    5. If you are speaking with a staffer who offers to take a message, that is OK. Staff play an important role and deserve respect, so be polite and engage with them too.
    6. If you leave a voicemail, don’t try to cover the talking points. Keep it brief. Ask for a callback and include your contact information.
    7. During or right after the meeting, write down a few notes about how it went and what they said. Are they supportive? What did they ask about? Did they ask questions you couldn’t answer, or want more information?
    8. Let us know how it went! Share your notes and impressions with the High Speed Rail Alliance. Contact our Wisconsin-based deputy director, Christopher Ott.

 

  1. Personally email your state lawmaker. If meeting or calling your elected official is not an option, a personal email can make an impression too. Here is what to do:
    1. Look up or confirm contact information for your state lawmaker, using the “Find Your Legislator” tool on this page: https://legis.wisconsin.gov
    2. Review the suggested talking points (see below).
    3. Write the message.
      • Say up front who you are and where you are from.
      • Summarize the talking points in your own words.
      • Ask your elected official to share their views on this issue with you.
    4. If you get a response, please forward a copy to our Wisconsin-based deputy director, Christopher Ott: chris at hsrail.org

 

Suggested Wisconsin Passenger Rail Talking Points

 

  • I live in ___________, and I want better passenger train service for Wisconsin.

    • If possible, share how you have used existing service, or what you would like new service for.
  • I’m contacting you because you are my legislator.
  • The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is doing early planning for new and improved service. We need to keep that going, and to start engineering work.

    • WisDOT is looking at more frequent service on existing lines between Chicago and Milwaukee and between Chicago and the Twin Cities.
    • They are also looking at new trains between Milwaukee and Green Bay, and between Milwaukee and the Twin Cities, through Madison and Eau Claire.
  • The Governor’s budget proposed investing a total of $29.8 million in passenger rail over the next two years.

    • That’s an increase of about $15 million, mostly for one-time costs to support improved and expanded service.
    • Compared to highway spending of about $4 billion in the current budget, this investment in rail is modest and reasonable.
    • No matter what happens as the budget is worked out over the next few months, please make sure we have enough to keep work for better passenger trains moving.
  • Trains are a smart investment.

    • A recent study by the Rail Passengers Association found that for every $1 that Wisconsin invests, Amtrak service returns $7.
    • Trains give people productive travel time, with less hassle and stress than flying or driving.
  • Wisconsin’s trains today are popular, but only about half our population has a station within 30 miles of where they live.
  • WisDOT’s work can bring the benefits of trains to more people in our state.

 

Answers to common questions

 

Who will ride? 

Lots of people. In 2024, Amtrak carried more than a million passengers to and from eight stations in Wisconsin. The Amtrak Hiawatha between Chicago and Milwaukee is one of the most successful trains in the country. The new Borealis between Chicago and St. Paul carried more passengers in eight months than were projected for its first year.

Why not buses?

Some people tend not to ride buses because they can’t figure out where buses go, or when. Different companies have different websites. Schedules aren’t coordinated. There are no transfers. Most places, the bus stops out in the weather. It can be confusing, inconvenient, and unpleasant.

Many people who wouldn’t consider a bus do take the train, because trains are more spacious and comfortable. They are integrated into a national network. They have customer-friendly policies for transfers and missed connections.

Buses already serve most of the same communities that Wisconsin’s trains do, yet more than a million passengers in 2024 chose the train.

Won’t most people still drive?

Driving for hours can be boring, stressful, and dangerous, and gas is expensive. I want the people who don’t like driving, who can’t drive, or who shouldn’t be driving to have an alternative. Trains provide an affordable option that improves the quality of life for both drivers and non-drivers.

People benefit even when they’re not on the train, because of less traffic. Most of the million train trips that people took in Wisconsin last year would have been car trips instead.

Doesn’t Amtrak lose money?

Every form of transportation “loses money” if you look at the whole picture. We support trucking companies by building highways and keeping them in good condition. We support airlines by providing airports, and still occasionally have bailed them out. Investing in railway infrastructure too helps freight railroads. Investing in passenger trains give travelers a useful option, and it benefits the communities the trains serve.

How do we pay for it?

Wisconsin spends about $2 billion a year on highways. If we can afford that, we can afford trains. Compared to highway spending, the amounts needed to expand and improve service are pretty reasonable.