Southeast Wisconsin Eyes New Lakeshore Passenger Rail Link Between Milwaukee and Chicago

Published: February 23, 2026

Leaders in southeastern Wisconsin took a formal first step in December 2025 toward studying a new passenger-rail service that could connect Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and Chicago—potentially restoring trains to a long-discussed Lake Michigan shoreline corridor that today has no passenger service north of Kenosha.

The effort is being guided by the newly formed Milwaukee-Area–Racine–Kenosha (MARK) Passenger Rail Commission, an intergovernmental body created by Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha in late 2025 to coordinate early planning and position the region to pursue federal support. The commission held its inaugural meeting on December 5, 2025, at Racine City Hall.

Until the early 1960s the shoreline between Chicago and Milwaukee offered rapid transit passenger service via the electrified Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad. American-Rails.com collection.

What’s being proposed—and why it’s different

The core concept behind “MARK Rail” is straightforward: reintroduce passenger trains on an existing freight rail corridor running along the lakeshore between Milwaukee and Kenosha, with service designed to connect into the Chicago region—either by coordinating with, or potentially integrating with, Metra’s UP-North commuter service that already reaches Kenosha.

That idea matters because southeastern Wisconsin’s existing Milwaukee–Chicago passenger train, Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service, runs on a more inland routing and does not directly serve Racine or many of the lakeshore population centers that have long wanted rail access. MARK Rail’s study corridor would instead follow tracks east of the Hiawatha route to more directly serve Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and intermediate communities.

Project organizers have also emphasized that the goal is to complement, not compete with, the Hiawatha—by focusing on different markets and station communities, while still strengthening the overall Milwaukee–Chicago passenger network.

The corridor: existing tracks, not a brand-new line

The “primary study corridor” is largely the Union Pacific (UP) Kenosha Subdivision running north from Kenosha through Racine to Milwaukee, with a segment near the northern end involving track owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). South of Kenosha, coordination with the Metra UP-North line (Kenosha–Chicago) is described as a key element of the concept.

Because the proposal relies on existing rights-of-way, the initial focus is less about acquiring land and more about understanding what infrastructure upgrades would be required—potentially including track improvements for higher speeds, additional double-track segments where single track constrains capacity, and suitable sites for stations and layover/maintenance facilities.

MARK Passenger Rail Commission

The MARK Passenger Rail Commission was created to provide formal governance for the project’s early phases and to coordinate public engagement and stakeholder input.

In early December 2025 coverage, officials pointed repeatedly to the availability of new federal infrastructure funding as a major reason the project is back on the front burner, with reporting noting that federal programs may cover a large share of planning and development costs (often cited in the 80–90% range during early stages).

At the commission’s first meeting, members approved steps aimed at pursuing the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) pathway—a program designed to help develop intercity passenger corridors in phases. A City of Racine media release previewing that inaugural meeting said the commission would consider authorizing an application to FRA’s Corridor ID program as part of its foundational actions.

That choice is also notable because it signals a shift in how the project is framed. Prior efforts in this corridor were often discussed as “commuter rail.” By late 2025, project partners described MARK as a faster, more focused approach aligned with intercity corridor development opportunities, rather than the older Federal Transit Administration “New Starts” approach used in past planning.

Funding already on the table for the study phase

A key practical development behind the renewed push is money for analysis. The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) and MARK Rail project materials state that the City of Racine obtained $5 million in Congressionally Directed Spending and is using part of those funds to complete the MARK Rail Study.

MARK Rail’s “About” page also outlines the consultant and partner structure supporting the study, including DB Engineering & Consulting and additional firms working on engineering, planning, and transit-oriented development considerations.

A revived idea with a complicated history

While MARK is new branding, the underlying idea—passenger trains linking Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha—has been debated for decades. Local officials and project materials point to extensive earlier analysis tied to the former Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter-rail initiative, which advanced through planning in the 2000s before being halted in 2011.

The new MARK effort is explicitly building on that earlier work while reconsidering service design, stations, governance, and funding tools to reflect changed conditions and current federal programs.

Moving Forward

In December 2025, officials described the immediate work as a feasibility-driven process: getting into the right federal program, conducting environmental and technical reviews, developing a service plan, and refining costs and implementation steps.

Just as important, project leaders also stressed what the commission’s creation does not do: it does not automatically commit the member cities to building infrastructure or launching service. The City of Racine’s December 2 media release emphasized the preliminary nature of the commission’s actions and noted that future decisions on investment or service would require additional technical analysis, public input, and further commission action.

Practical challenges remain substantial. The corridor is owned and dispatched primarily for freight service, meaning any passenger operation would require close coordination—and likely negotiated agreements—with host railroads. Station placement can also become contentious, balancing downtown access, travel times, neighborhood impacts, and parking/transit connections. And, while federal programs can cover a large share of costs, local and state funding decisions still matter for both capital improvements and ongoing operations.

Still, MARK Rail proponents argue the upside could be transformational: a one-seat or easy-transfer rail connection tying together the Milwaukee–Chicago “megaregion,” expanding job access, supporting downtown redevelopment in Racine and Kenosha, reducing highway congestion, and giving the lakeshore communities a passenger rail option they have lacked for generations.

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