Big upgrades coming to Union Station; more trains to Midwestern cities planned
A massive revamp of Chicago's Union Station plus potentially more trains to Midwestern cities including Milwaukee are among the projects Amtrak is eying with over $101 million in new federal grants.
The lion's share of the funding, nearly $94 million, is earmarked for Union Station renovations.
Amtrak will put an old, abandoned mail platform back in use and reconstruct existing platforms to increase intercity passenger rail service.
A better ventilation system and more entrances and exits to reduce crowding for nearly 120,000 weekly Metra and Amtrak passengers will be part of the focus.
"Washington sees the value of strengthening the Chicago hub, which is Amtrak's epicenter," DePaul University transportation Professor Joseph Schwieterman said.
He anticipates more grants in the future and "even if not every funded project is completed, travelers will enjoy much-improved service."
Additional funding is intended to improve passenger rail connections between Chicago and other Midwest cities.
"In terms of impact, no program is more important to expanding the future of services in the Midwest and improving reliability for Amtrak's long-distance trains that originate in Chicago," Amtrak Vice President Jeannie Kwon said in a statement.
Here are some future upgrades being developed or studied:
• Additional trains from Chicago to Milwaukee and the Twin Cities, plus an extension to Madison, Wisconsin.
• More trains from Chicago to Detroit, including a connection to Windsor and Canada's passenger rail system.
• Increased service on Amtrak's Cardinal Line between Chicago and New York City, with stops in Indianapolis.
"Hardly any new trains have been added to the Chicago Hub over the past decade, but this should change that," Schwieterman said.
"Some projects are quite complicated due to track sharing with freight trains. The devil is in the details, so let's hope state governments are up to the task."
The Illinois Department of Transportation separately received $1.5 million to plan enhanced and expanded service between Chicago and three destinations: Carbondale, St. Louis and the Quad Cities.