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“Flying is too expensive,” Salzman said.
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Amtrak passengers, en route to Chicago, wait with their luggage Wednesday morning as the Empire Builder pulls into the Winona Amtrak station.
(Photo by Melissa Carlo/Winona Daily News)
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Salzman is part of a growing number of riders on Amtrak trains nationwide, including the line that stops in Winona.
That trend has spurred a group of mayors in Minnesota and Wisconsin who want to lobby for funds to expand rail service between St. Paul and Chicago. The Minnesota-Wisconsin Amtrak Corridor group — which includes mayors from St. Paul to Watertown, Wis. — gathered Wednesday in Winona to build support for a proposal to double service on the line.
Winona Mayor Jerry Miller, who organized the meeting, said expansion of Amtrak service is linked to Winona’s effort to renovate the city’s Amtrak station into a rail, bus and car hub for southern Minnesota.
Amtrak’s Empire Builder train now begins its route in Chicago and ends on the West Coast, stopping twice per day in Winona and other cities. The mayors hope Amtrak will add at least one more daily train to run exclusively between Chicago and St. Paul.
The Chicago-to-St. Paul corridor has long been a focal point for discussion of passenger-rail improvement. In 2004, a study commissioned by transportation departments from seven Midwest states designated the corridor as a future high-speed rail line, with Winona as one of at least four stops on the route.
Mayors on Wednesday agreed that the time is right to start lobbying state and federal officials for funding. Ridership on the Empire Builder has increased for the past two years, and Amtrak ridership nationwide set records in 2007.
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and mayors from Hastings, Red Wing and Wabasha in Minnesota and Watertown, La Crosse, and Columbus in Wisconsin already have shown support for the proposal.
“As you increase the frequency (of stops), you’re going to see more people use the service,” said La Crosse Mayor Mark Johnsrud.
Adding a second train through Winona wouldn’t require an increase in taxpayer subsidies for Amtrak, said John Parkyn, president of the Wisconsin Association of Rail Passengers.
Federal legislators from Minnesota say they’ll examine the viability of expanding passenger rail from St. Paul to Chicago, though some aren’t yet ready to pledge full support for the proposal.
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., has long supported upgrading the Union Depot in St. Paul, which could accommodate both light rail and the Amtrak line, a spokeswoman said. Coleman “welcomes the idea of an additional train in Winona,” spokeswoman Megan Turnell said.
Rep. Tim Walz, DFL-Minn., is requesting an analysis of ridership on the Amtrak line, a spokeswoman said.
“If the passenger demand exists for a second daily train, the Congressman would be supportive of providing additional transit options for people along the line,” spokeswoman Meredith Salsbery said.
Salsbery said Walz co-sponsored the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, which could provide more than $14 billion for Amtrak capital projects — including additional trains and track upgrades — over a five-year period. The measure passed the House and is awaiting action in the Senate, Salsbery said.
The mayors are yet to approach Amtrak about expanding service, said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari.
Most recent expansions of Amtrak services have been financed by states, not federal funds — such as a seven-times-a-day route between Milwaukee and Chicago bankrolled by the Illinois and Wisconsin DOTs, Magliari said.
Leaders from cities along the Amtrak line will meet again in the fall, Miller said. The proposal would dovetail with Winona’s comprehensive plan, which calls for renovating the Amtrak station on Mark Street into a transportation hub of rail, bus and taxi service to Rochester and other southern Minnesota cities, he said.
Mark Sommerhauser is a reporter for the Winona Daily News.
