Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, along with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) and in partnership with Amtrak, has submitted a grant application to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to help fund expanded passenger rail in Wisconsin. Under the proposal, the Amtrak Hiawatha train service would expand into Dane, Jefferson and Waukesha counties by building upon existing railroad infrastructure to extend two daily Hiawatha Chicago to Milwaukee trains to Madison, Watertown and Pewaukee. The Trump Administration is expected to make award determinations in the coming months.

“My administration has been working hard to fix the roads, make sure Wisconsinites can get from point A to point B safely and expand reliable transportation alternatives to make it even easier to get to and from work, school, home and everywhere in between,” Evers said. “After years of neglect and disinvestment, Wisconsin’s roads, bridges and infrastructure had fallen into disrepair, and we’ve spent seven years working to reverse that trend. The opportunity to expand passenger rail has haunted Wisconsin for a generation because of a short-sighted political stunt—that decision cost our state dearly, and we want to right that wrong. Ensuring Wisconsin has the 21st-century transportation and infrastructure we need to compete for workers and thrive in a 21st-century economy must be a top priority for our state, especially if we want to keep working toward the future we've been building together over the last seven years. This is an important effort that should have happened a long time ago, and I’m hopeful the Trump Administration will approve our request so we can get this done.” 

In recent decades, Wisconsin has seen several attempts to expand passenger rail across the state. In 2009, former Gov. Jim Doyle secured a deal with Talgo, a high-speed rail manufacturer, to build two new trains for the purpose of connecting the cities of Madison and Milwaukee, and in the same year, the state was awarded $810 million in federal funds to execute this project. However, in 2010, former Gov. Scott Walker rejected the $810 million in federal funds outright, derailing the project completely and causing the state to be sued by Talgo, which had already built the two new trains. The settlement required the state to pay $50 million to Talgo for the trains.

According to WisDOT, this proposal largely uses existing infrastructure with some one-time capital investments to improve track capacity and speeds for passenger service, enhance safety and increase existing service reliability. The grant would fund key investments such as bridge rehabilitations, track and crossing upgrades and ADA-accessible temporary station platforms in Madison, Watertown and Pewaukee. 

The proposed project would provide the following to the state: 

• Providing a new connection for families, workers and students to major economic centers. 
• Making it easier for people to travel between Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago without driving. 
• Creating conditions that would support future economic growth for the state. 
• Creating an estimated 200 permanent jobs and approximately $46 million in annual economic benefits. 

WisDOT says the city of Madison, under Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, has previously been connected to several large economic hubs in the Midwest, such as Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Chicago. However, due to federal legislation that reconstructed passenger rail and created Amtrak, the city has not seen passenger rail since 1971. In preparation for a potential planned expansion of the Hiawatha route, the city of Madison recently completed a passenger rail station study in coordination with WisDOT in November 2025. The study evaluated six corridors and eight potential sites to help identify the best location for a future Amtrak station in Madison. 

In May 2024, Amtrak, in partnership with the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois, extended passenger rail service with the Borealis Train route, connecting St. Paul, Minn., with Chicago via a connection in Milwaukee. WisDOT notes that since its inception, the Borealis has served more than 416,000 passengers. Between the Amtrak Empire Builder trains and the state-sponsored Hiawatha Service trains, the corridor ridership has grown by 27% in two years, reaching a ridership of nearly 1.8 million passengers.