Empire Builder through Madison, WI

[Guest_Will_*]

Just wondering,

wasn't Amtrak thinking about bringing amtrak to Madison, WI, and back to Portage and places beyond? Do you think that if Amtrak routes the Empire Builder through Madison (Deleting the stop in Columbus of course) with significant route improvements it would help or hurt the EB as far as ridership and revenues go?

Thanks

 

[WICT106]

Amtrak has certainly considered rerouting the Empire Builder through Madison, Wisconsin, for the past few decades, but the major sticking point was that neither the Corporation, nor the State of Wis, nor the Fed, had or were willing to budget the funds for upgrading the lines. It is still on the books, and it is a part of the Midwest HSR project. Amtrak has recognized that serving Madison is something that would dramatically increase ridership along the EB route, and, with connections in Chicago, could result in increased ridership across the system. Its just that up until the past several weeks no one has had or been willing to set aside the funds for improving the tracks around Madison.