Massive Amtrak cuts in Trump budget would knock famed Empire Builder off the rails

The Empire Builder passes through Tomah twice a day —  once in each direction — bringing Amish families together, connecting people from small towns to Milwaukee and Minneapolis and beyond.

It's the same for Columbus and Portage, Wisconsin Dells and La Crosse.

But the train with a name harking back to a time when America seemed bigger, or at least an age when traveling was a bit more unhurried, faces an uncertain fate. Under President Donald Trump's proposed budget, hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies for long-distance Amtrak service would be slashed.

That would mean the Empire Builder that passes through Wisconsin on its Chicago-to-Seattle scenic route would close, along with many other long-distance routes. While Milwaukee would continue to be connected to Chicago on Amtrak regional Hiawatha trains, passenger rail service would end for other Wisconsin communities on the Empire Builder route.

"You can't stand in a grocery line without hearing that," said Tomah City Administrator Roger Gorius. "A lot of people are concerned about it."

Rally for Trains protests are scheduled this weekend in a couple of dozen cities across the U.S., including Wausau at 9 a.m. Friday and Chicago at noon Friday.

Almost a half-million passengers traveled on the Empire Builder last year. The most-traveled segment was from Chicago to St. Paul, although trips from Chicago to La Crosse, Tomah and Wisconsin Dells also were popular.

"It's kind of upsetting because we just had a nice meeting last summer with Amtrak where they talked about how they were looking at putting in another (Empire Builder) train," said Portage Mayor Rick Dodd. 

"It would affect our economy. We have people who come to Portage and Columbus to take the train, those are the only two stops until you get to La Crosse," Dodd said. "It could have a significant impact for us."

Trump has proposed cutting $2.4 billion from the federal transportation budget, 13% less than last year's funding. That would eliminate all federal funding for Amtrak's national network trains including routes that provide the only service in 23 states, according to the National Association of Railroad Passengers, which is organizing the rallies. Remaining Amtrak grants would be spent only on rails in America's Northeast Corridor.

The reason for slashing funding for long-distance Amtrak routes, according to Trump's budget, is to focus on more densely populated areas.

But Sean Jeans-Gail, vice president of government affairs for the National Association of Railroad Passengers, said that would result in large areas of the country without any Amtrak service at all, including cities as large as Denver, Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans, Las Vegas and Cincinnati.

"They made it explicitly clear that they don't view these trains as worth the investment. They said the Northeast Corridor makes sense but not for the rest of the country," Jeans-Gail said Wednesday.

Amtrak has operated at a loss for many years and Trump has complained that the trains often don't run on time.

"Our counter is that highways don't pay for themselves either. Some say the gas taxes pay for it and that's just not true," said Jeans-Gail.

The total number of Amtrak passengers in Wisconsin, which includes both the Empire Builder and Hiawatha service between Milwaukee and Chicago, was almost 900,000 last year, not including an additional 113,000 riders who passed through the state but boarded and got off outside the state. Ridership in the state reached almost 935,000 in 2012 before dipping to 880,000 in 2014 and gradually increasing the last two years.

Wisconsin Amtrak passengers average 121 miles per trip.

In Tomah, it's common to see horse and buggies parked near diesel train engines when the Empire Builder stops to pick up and let off passengers because a sizable Amish population lives in the area. The train station is located in the community's downtown.

Jeans-Gail said the Empire Builder is Amtrak's most well-used long-distance route, connecting people to world-class medical facilities in the Twin Cities, connecting folks who live far from airports and efficiently moving people from one spot to another.

"When you look at the communities that rely on the Empire Builder service, you can see they rely on it even more than a city located in the Northeast Corridor. In Whitefish, Montana, the ridership is greater than the population of the city itself," said Jeans-Gail. "When you look at La Crosse, Columbus and Sturtevant, it's a much more important service relative to the population size."

Trump's budget is only a proposal, and since Congress controls the purse strings, it's possible that the Empire Builder and other Amtrak routes will not be cut.

"It's a unique thing that sets us apart. We can hop on it and be in Milwaukee or Chicago so it's a connectivity thing. It's hard enough for smaller communities to stay connected," said Gorius.

"If we can save this, it would mean a lot to us."