Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service sets new annual ridership record in 2011

January 27, 2012

Monthly ridership records broken 11 times last year

For the first time in its history, Hiawatha Service ridership surpassed 800,000 in 2011. The year-end numbers put ridership at 823,163. According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), that is a nearly four percent increase from 2010 when ridership totaled 792,848.

Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service provides transportation between Milwaukee and Chicago, with seven round-trips Monday through Saturday and six round-trips on Sunday. Train stops include the Milwaukee Intermodal Station (MIS); Milwaukee Airport Rail Station (MARS) at General Mitchell International Airport; Sturtevant, near Racine; Glenview, IL; and Chicago’s Union Station. A one-way trip from Milwaukee to Chicago, approximately 86 miles, takes about 90 minutes.

In addition to the 2011 calendar year record, monthly Hiawatha Service ridership records were set in every month but August of last year. According to Amtrak’s 2011 fiscal year data, the Hiawatha Service is the busiest Amtrak corridor in the Midwest and the sixth busiest in the country.

The Hiawatha Service began in 1989. It is operated by Amtrak and is jointly funded by the states of Wisconsin and Illinois.

For more information about Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service, visit Amtrak online.

For more information, contact:
Section Chief Ron Adams, WisDOT Rails & Harbors
(608) 267-9284, ron.adams@dot.wi.gov