Milwaukee Intermodal Station

Milwaukee Intermodal Station
Glass station building and 6th Street Bridge at sunset
General information
Location	433 West Saint Paul Avenue Milwaukee, Wisconsin United States
Coordinates	43°02′03″N 87°55′02″W
Owned by	WisDOT
Operated by	Amtrak
Line(s)	CP Watertown/C&M Subdivisions
Platforms	2 island and 1 side platform
Tracks	5
Train operators	Amtrak
Bus stands	9
Bus operators	Amtrak Thruway Badger Bus Greyhound Lines Indian Trails Jefferson Lines Lamers Bus Lines Megabus Tornado Bus Company Wisconsin Coach Lines
Connections	Milwaukee Streetcar Milwaukee County Transit System: BlueLine, 12, 31, 34, 57
Construction
Parking	425 long term spaces
Bicycle facilities	Bublr Bikes bike-share
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: MKE
History
Opened	1965
Rebuilt	2007
Previous names	Milwaukee Union Station (1965–2007)
Passengers
FY 2023	509,107 (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Columbus toward Seattle or Portland Empire Builder Glenview toward Chicago Terminus Hiawatha Milwaukee Airport toward Chicago Preceding station The Hop Following station Terminus M-Line St. Paul at Plankinton toward Burns Commons
Former services Preceding station Chicago and North Western Railway Following station Terminus Milwaukee Division Racine toward Chicago

Milwaukee Intermodal Station is the main intercity bus and train station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, located downtown. The station is served by Amtrak's Empire Builder and Hiawatha Service as well as bus companies Coach USA - Wisconsin Coach Lines (regional and intercity services), Greyhound Lines, Jefferson Lines, Indian Trails, Lamers, Badger Bus, Tornado Bus Company, and Megabus.

Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) local bus routes 12 and 57 serve the station directly and several other local bus routes operate on nearby streets.

The city's other intercity stations include Milwaukee Airport Railroad Station near Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport on the south side of the city and several other intercity bus stations.

It is Amtrak's 18th-busiest station nationwide, and the second-busiest in the Midwest, behind only Chicago Union Station.

History

The station opened on August 3, 1965 as Milwaukee Union Station. Operated by the Milwaukee Road, it replaced their previous Everett Street Depot. The depot was built on West St. Paul Avenue in a modernistic style that proved unpopular quickly after it was erected. The Chicago and North Western Railroad closed their Milwaukee station (Lake Front Depot) and moved their passenger operations to the new Milwaukee Road depot in 1966. Following the formation of Amtrak in 1971, the Chicago and North Western withdrew all of its intercity trains and commuter service from the station.

Intercity coach platforms are located partially under the Sixth Street Viaduct

The original Milwaukee Union Station, soon after its opening in 1965

In November 2007, the facility was renamed the Milwaukee Intermodal Station following a $16.9 million renovation. The new facility included a larger waiting area with a glass atrium and improved space for Amtrak ticketing, as well as facilities for intercity buses (to accommodate Greyhound service after it relocated from its former location at 7th and Michigan), a restaurant, and retail space. In 2016, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation completed a rebuild of the train shed and platform to meet federal ADA standards.

The Canadian Pacific Railway (through its Soo Line Railroad subsidiary) acquired the trackage within the train shed when it bought the remnants of the Milwaukee Road in 1986 (the Milwaukee went defunct that year). The CP Rail C&M Subdivision runs on two mains through the station. There are 4 depot spurs used to store private railcars and Amtrak Hiawatha trains overnight. CP's Muskego Yard is just to the south of the station.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation owns the station and platforms. The DOT's Statewide Traffic Operations Center is on the 3rd floor of the station.

There is a 300-space parking lot just west of the station. The station has a restaurant and a large vending area. Checked baggage service is available for Amtrak passengers.

Services

The station's busiest service is the Hiawatha Service, with seven daily round trips to Chicago (six on the weekends) with an additional late-night southbound train on Fridays. It is the successor of Chicago-Milwaukee express trains operated by the Milwaukee Road from the 1930s onward. The Empire Builder, a long-distance train linking Chicago and the Pacific Northwest, also stops here once a day in each direction, with the eastbound train arriving in early afternoon and the westbound train arriving just before rush hour. Due to the wider availability of the Hiawatha Service, it normally only stops to receive passengers westbound and discharge passengers eastbound. However, for much of the spring of 2020, the Empire Builder temporarily allowed local travel between Chicago and Milwaukee to make up for the suspension of the Hiawatha due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of November 2, 2018, the station is served by a stop on The HOP Milwaukee Streetcar.

See also

• List of intercity bus stops in Wisconsin

External links

Media related to Milwaukee Intermodal Station at Wikimedia Commons

• Milwaukee, WI – Amtrak
• Milwaukee, WI – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• Milwaukee Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide — Train Web)