Borealis bursts onto the Midwest's rail network with a strong first summer

Borealis, the Midwest’s newest state-supported passenger train, burst onto the scene in mid-May with eye-popping ridership and, maybe, a small profit.

According to Amtrak’s monthly performance reports for May 2024 through August 2024, the Borealis, which launched on May 21 with one daily round-trip between Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, Minn., carried 6,600 passengers in its first 10 days of revenue operation. It then carried 19,400 passengers in June, 21,300 in July and 22,300 in August.

But Borealis isn’t cannibalizing ridership from the long-distance Empire Builder (Chicago-Seattle/Portland, one round-trip daily), with which it shares the Chicago-Twin Cities corridor. Ridership on both the Empire Builder and the state-supported Hiawatha increased in the same period, too.

On a monthly basis, the Empire Builder carried 32,800 passengers in May, 38,500 in June, 42,100 in July and 39,400 in August. Year-to-date ridership on the Empire Builder grew from 235,500 in May to 316,100 in July and 355,500 in August.

Monthly ridership on the Hiawatha (Chicago-Milwaukee, six round trips daily plus a Friday-only late-night train to Milwaukee) carried 57,200 passengers in May, 57,800 in June, 59,200 in July and 58,500 in August.

Year-to-date ridership on the Hiawatha rose from 438,200 in May to 495,800 in June, 555,000 in July and 613,500 in August.

(Although each Borealis train, when traveling between Chicago and Milwaukee, takes up a scheduled slot for Hiawatha service, Wisconsin Department of Transportation officials said all ridership between those cities on Borealis trains is credited to the Borealis, not to Hiawatha service.)

Through June, the Borealis’ operating revenue of $2.5 million outpaced operating expenses of $2.3 million by $200,000.

But as a state-supported service, the route is subsidized – as are all transportation modes. For example, the federal Essential Air Service program subsidizes airlines to provide air services to rural communities that would not otherwise have such service, and both state and federal governments subsidize non-toll highways.

In 2020, the Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation, which oversees and pays for most of the Borealis service in partnership with the Illinois and Minnesota departments of transportation, won a $12.6 million Restoration & Enhancement grant from the Federal Railroad Administration to help cover its first three years of operating costs.

“WisDOT is proud to partner with Amtrak and the states of Minnesota and Illinois to double passenger rail options for people traveling between Chicago and the Twin Cities, while stopping at eight Wisconsin train stations along the route,” said Jennifer Murray, director of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transit, Local Roads, Railroads & Harbors.

“Amtrak Borealis offers commuters, business travelers, families, and students comfortable and reliable transportation along a corridor that connects many businesses, universities, tourist attractions, and Wisconsin communities,” Murray said.

The Restoration & Enhancement program was changed in 2021; it now helps states for six years, starting with covering 90 percent of operating costs in the first year and declining to cover 30 percent in the final year. Wisconsin applied for a new Restoration & Enhancement grant to help fund years four through six of Borealis’ operation.  Applications for FY 2024 Restoration & Enhancement grants were due to the FRA on Sept. 30.

As part of MIPRC’s 2024 Annual Meeting, MIPRC commissioners, partners and allies, along with MIPRC staff, will have the opportunity to ride the Borealis to St. Paul on November 18 to St. Paul’s Union Depot, where the remainder of this year’s commission meeting will be held.

(Amtrak’s monthly ridership and revenue reports can be found here.)