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The Center Square - October 1, 2020

The federal government chose the joint Wisconsin-Minnesota Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago (TCMC) Passenger Rail Project to receive a $31.8 million federal rail grant. The TCMC project will add a daily round-trip between the Twin Cities, La Crosse, Milwaukee, and Chicago along the existing Amtrak Empire Builder route. “The expanded service provides a much-improved connection between the Midwest economic hubs of Minneapolis/St. Paul, La Crosse, Milwaukee and Chicago,” Craig Thompson, Wisconsin Department of Transportation secretary-designee, said in a statement.


Streets.mn - September 28, 2020


Amtrak’s Empire Builder, the only intercity rail service in Minnesota, will be reduced from daily to tri-weekly service beginning in October due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. I decided to take it one more time before the cuts went into effect, as there’s no way of knowing how long it’ll be before daily service is restored. This post will be about my trip, plus looking into how the Empire Builder and Amtrak in general can come out of this pandemic stronger.


KSTP - September 30, 2020

The Wisconsin-Minnesota Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago (TCMC) Passenger Rail Project will receive a $31.8 million federal grant, authorities announced Wednesday. The project will add an additional daily round-trip between the Twin Cities, La Crosse, Milwaukee and Chicago, as well as stops in between, along an existing long-distance Amtrak Empire Builder route.


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