Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission

The Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission (MIPRC) brings together state leaders from across the region on a bipartisan basis to advocate for passenger rail improvements.

Formed by compact agreement in 2000, MIPRC's current members are Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota are also eligible to join.

The main purposes of the compact are to promote, coordinate and support regional improvements to passenger rail service:

Promote both current improvements and long-range plans for intercity passenger rail service in the Midwest.

Coordinate interaction among Midwestern state officials, and between the public and private sector at all levels (federal, state and local).

Support efforts of Midwestern state DOTs involved in developing and implementing passenger rail service.

In October 2021, MIPRC and the Federal Railroad Administration released the Midwest Regional Rail Plan (MWRRP), a new “high level” vision for what intercity passenger rail could look like in the Midwest within 40 years. Building on the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative that nine state DOTs began working on in the late 1990s, the MWRRP envisions a robust network of multiple frequencies linking major cities and smaller towns, that capitalizes on the benefits that a multistate system, rather than an individual corridor approach, will bring.

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The MWRRP also envisions advancing and elevating MIPRC “as a governance structure with the clear authority, responsibility and mandate for overseeing and implementing the outcomes of the Midwest’s intercity rail planning initiative.”

The MWRRP was developed over several years under an FRA-led planning project with MIPRC and the 12 Midwestern state DOTs as the primary stakeholders. Other entities – such as Amtrak, Class I railroads, metropolitan planning organizations, advocacy groups and chambers of commerce – served a supporting role.

In October 2024, MIPRC was awarded up to $1.84 million in federal funds through the FRA Consolidated Rail Infrastructure & Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program. The regional planning grant will begin the work of expanding, refining and prioritizing corridor development, to ensure that the Midwest both builds on the foundations of the MWRRP and MWRRI, and establishes a comprehensive, robust, region-wide passenger rail investment plan that considers the diverse geography and population of the Midwest.