New rail service studied to connect Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, Chicago

RACINE, Wis. - The Milwaukee-Area–Racine–Kenosha (MARK) Passenger Rail Commission held on Friday, Dec. 5, its inaugural meeting to explore the feasibility of future passenger rail service in southeast Wisconsin. The new service, if approved, would connect the downtowns of Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee to Chicago and Northshore communities.

New rail service proposed

What we know:

The MARK Passenger Rail Commission, made up of representatives from the three main cities in the corridor (Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha), was formed in November 2025 to guide ongoing work to establish a MARK Rail line. According to the MARK Rail website, the commission will conduct public and stakeholder engagement to obtain input as the effort works toward a preferred service design. 

The site says the "MARK Rail primary study corridor is defined as the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) Kenosha Subdivision extending from Kenosha north to Racine and Milwaukee. The northern end of the corridor also includes a segment of track owned by CPKC. To the south, connection and coordination of the new service with the existing Metra UP-North line between Kenosha and Chicago will be an important element of the MARK Rail effort."

Different from Amtrak's Hiawatha?

Dig deeper:

Amtrak’s Hiawatha service provides daily trips between downtown Milwaukee and downtown Chicago on tracks largely owned by CPKC and Metra, with limited stops between the two cities. The Hiawatha route is located inland, and, as a result, the Hiawatha does not directly serve the major population centers located along Lake Michigan, including the Cities of Racine, Kenosha, and others in Southeastern Wisconsin, as well as Chicago’s North Shore communities. 

The website says MARK Rail would differ from the Hiawatha by directly serving Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and communities in between on tracks east of the tracks used by the Hiawatha.

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A goal of the MARK Rail Study is to examine potential service options that would complement, and not compete with, the Hiawatha service.

City leaders work together

What they're saying:

"They're getting into the regional rail business as a matter of philosophy in the Chicago area," said Milwaukee Alderman Bob Bauman. "So they're going beyond just doing commuter trains, but actually inter-city trains, they're going to do service between Chicago and Rockford for example which is a longer corridor than Chicago and Milwaukee so I think this has the potential of becoming the rail mode of choice for Chicago Milwaukee travel."

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"What's different now though is the FRA or Federal Railroad Administration does have funding under the infrastructure bill for regions to compete for these federal funds where 80% to 90% of these phases to be fedrally funded so that's a big difference," said Racine Mayor Cory Mason.