CHICAGO — Preliminary figures for the first month of Amtrak’s state-supported Borealis show the train is averaging about 300 passengers each way daily, or more than 18,500 people in the first month, according to Amtrak.
The second train on the Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul portion of the route also served by the Empire Builder launched on May 21, and was greeted by immediate demand, as reflected in an upward trend in the demand pricing for tickets [see “Second Chicago-St. Paul train shows value of frequency, capacity …,” Trains News Wire, May 22, 2024].
“Amtrak and our state partners have always believed the Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago corridor was a great one with tremendous opportunity,” Ray Lang, vice president, Amtrak state-supported service, said in a press release. “The ridership numbers we have seen so far confirm our belief and we expect this trend to continue as the service matures and we head into the peak summer travel season.
“With strong college and university markets on this route, we are confident Borealis will continue to perform well when students and staff travel in greater numbers this fall.”
Officials from the three states funding the service also heralded the early reception. Nancy Daubenberger, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said the number of riders in the first month “clearly demonstrates the need for this route,” while Omar Osman, secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation, called the numbers “encouraging” and said they “show great potential for this route and look forward to continued strong ridership in the coming months.” Wisconsin Department of Transportation Secretary Craig Thompson noted the train represented the first expansion of passner rail in the state in 22 years “and people are responding. … The initial data is promising.”
The figures do not indicate how much of the traffic is between Chicago and Milwaukee — the Borealis operates in place of one of the prior Hiawatha round trips on that portion — and how much is on the newly served Milwaukee-St. Paul segment. Eastbound ridership may occasionally be bolstered by passengers accommodated on the new train instead of a late-running Empire Builder. That could well be the case today (July 8), when the Borealis’ on-time 11:50 a.m. departure put it at least 90 minutes ahead of the eastbound Builder, projected to be almost 5 hours behind its scheduled 8:50 a.m. departure because of “earlier track maintenance and mechanical issues,” according to Amtrak’s website.
The unreliability of the Empire Builder is why this new line creates a perfect alternative for people who may be on a tight schedule. People want to ride the trains! Now if Amtrak can get the longer pre-pandemic consists returned to its long distance trains, ridership numbers can and will show substantial improvement!