Prospect of added Amtrak service to meet Foxconn needs will go before Milwaukee board

A city panel takes up the prospect of expanded Amtrak service to improve transit options for workers at the planned Foxconn Technology Group industrial park on Thursday.

The Public Transportation Review Board will discuss the status of adding three additional daily Milwaukee-to-Chicago trips, in part, to accommodate the Taiwan-based company’s expected big workforce in Mount Pleasant.

Adding more service between the cities at an estimated cost of $200 million has been in the planning stages for years by Amtrak, Wisconsin and Illinois officials.

An environmental impact statement of the project is close to being completed.

"That means you almost have a shovel-ready project," said Ald. Bob Bauman, chairman of the committee.

He sees expanded rail service as a way to move Milwaukee residents to jobs in Racine County.

"That's the big picture," he said. "That's the bottom line."

Amtrak provides service to Sturtevant, which is a mile or two from the Foxconn site.

In 2016, Amtrak and Wisconsin and Illinois officials held public hearings on the increasing service. At the time of the hearings, officials said ridership on the Hiawatha line had increased significantly in the past 15 years.

One major new dynamic since 2016 is the announcement last year that Foxconn is building a $10 billion manufacturing plant that could employ up to 13,000 people.

RELATED: Spurred by Foxconn, widening I-94 to eight lanes through Racine County will begin in 2019

Foxconn’s plans spurred state officials to move up plans to widen I-94 from six lanes to eight from College Ave. south to Highway 142 in Kenosha County. Interchanges will be rebuilt, as will frontage roads between Highway 20 and Highway KR, the stretch of interstate closest to the planned Foxconn campus.

Rail should also be an option, Bauman said.

Thursday's hearing will include briefings from the state Department of Transportation and the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

The project depends on securing federal funding plus state and private matching funds. In 2016, a Federal Railroad Administration official told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the expanded rail service would cost about $150 million to $200 million.

Amtrak also gets financial help from the state in the form of an operating subsidy. In the current fiscal year, the carrier gets $7 million; in fiscal 2019, Amtrak will receive $6.8 million, according to state budget documents.