In 2011, 4.8% of the Chicago - Milwaukee trainsets ran standing room only despite having 6 cars and 416 seats, approx overage was 35 passengers.
From an August 2013 Journal - Sentinel article:
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Trains from Milwaukee to Chicago and St. Paul, Minn., may be faster and more frequent in the near future, as Amtrak and transportation departments in Wisconsin and neighboring states study the possibility of expanding service on regional routes.
Encouraged by ridership that has doubled over the past decade and standing-room-only conditions on some trains, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has plans to add three express trains to the Hiawatha route, boosting the number of trips a day from seven to 10.
The express trains would skip local stops, serving only Union Station in Chicago, Mitchell International Airport and downtown Milwaukee, and reach a maximum speed of 90 miles per hour, compared with 79 mph now, decreasing travel times by 11 minutes.
“The department really feels that people are becoming aware of the Hiawatha service and its convenience, and are looking for alternative modes of transportation,” said DOT spokesman Brock Bergey.
Bergey said the DOT expects demand to continue to increase.
“The Hiawatha service continues to grow, and the department is very interested in making sure we can meet the needs and desires of the traveling public,” he said.
In a 2011 survey by the Texas Transportation Institute, more than half of Hiawatha passengers on weekdays were commuting or making a business trip, while about three in four weekend passengers were visiting family or taking a trip for fun. A significant number of passengers, 14%, said that if the train weren’t available, they would not have made a trip. Avoiding highway congestion was the primary reason people took the train.
A recently completed project has paved the way for added trains by making it easi