Amtrak trip on Chicago to Milwaukee Corridor

Trains Magazine Passenger
1

OK, so I rode Amtrak last week to Chicago and had a chance to speak with some Amtrak employees about CUS restoration efforts. As I said in another post their Legacy Club looks like it will bring in money but time will tell how it is marketed and how many people sign up. They have free standing displays now throughout Union Station describing the restoration efforts with color pictures. If you live in the Chicago area and the trip to CUS is relatively cheap, might be worth your while to look in on CUS. The Legacy Club is just outside the former Barbershop which looks like it is undergoing restoration as well and they have some glass doors you can look through to that. The main staircase restoration to Canal Street looks really nice and they did a good job on that. Right now they are repairing the large skylight drainage system which leaks.

On the Milwaukee side the Milwaukee Station upgrades are done. All five tracks were worked on and appears upgraded, the track platforms were raised in places to permit level boarding for the new Corridor Cars that are allegedly comming sometime in the future. The City has obtained funding for a Milwaukee Streetcar that will stop in front on the Amtrak Intermodal station in Milwaukee and board passengers. Last but not least, the large Post Office that is over the tracks as the trains enter the station from Chicago is scheduled to be vacated in 2017 and the new owner or landlord has indicated they would like to turn it into a large mall or collection of retail establishments and offices, which will only help boost pedestrian traffic to the Milwaukee station…also good news there.

The Milwaukee to Chicago fares are now $25 each way which is $50 RT and the Corridor is within a hair of self-sufficiency with costs. I think if they add the three more train frequencies it might put them over the edge. &nb

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Great summation of the corridor, looks like things are going in the right direction. Hi by

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Yes, it’d be nice to have more frequent service between Chicago and Milwaukee. I’m planning a round trip to St. Louis next month, and would prefer to travel Amtrak from the MKE airport station. Unfortunately, the timing of the connections at Chicago don’t mesh, so I’m going to drive to Bloomington, Il., and travel Amtrak from there. Three hours to St. Louis. My meetings and hotel are in downtown St. Louis. Can take the light rail right from the Amtrak station for $2.50 to less than a block from the hotel. No need to pay the hotel’s very high carpark rates. Bloomington has a nice, modern station/parking facility. The cost savings in parking will easily cover the rail rides. [:)]

4

Intelligent use of both rail and rubber, hats off to you!

5

Both Chicago Union Station and St Paul Union Station have rental car counters now I saw them at CUS (Hertz) and read about St. Paul (also Hertz).

Milwaukee Intermodal Station does not because there are several within walking distance of Milwaukee’s Amtrak station in the lobbies of local large hotels. So the Amtrak station in Milwaukee has a challenge keeping rental car companies at the station. Still not a huge effort to huff it to a local hotel to rent a car in Milwaukee or request a pickup.

I’ll be using the Airport station in Milwaukee as well on my Christmas Trip back to Wisconsin as it has a larger rental selection and the bus is usually waiting the train for the trip to the airport.