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Groundbreaking ceremonies were held today on a $6.5 million passenger rail station at Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport.

Once in service, Milwaukee will join other major airports, such as Newark International and Baltimore-Washington International, with Amtrak access on airport property.

The station is in addition to the long-time Amtrak station downtown which is scheduled for a major remodeling.

Construction of a Milwaukee airport station has long been a goal of the Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers and ProRail.

Participating in today's ceremony at the airport were Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin), Wisconsin Department of Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi, and other federal, state, and local officials.

For Gov. Doyle, it was his second Amtrak event in the last two and a half weeks. He joined Amtrak President David Gunn on the program June 11 at ceremonies at the Amtrak station in downtown Milwaukee celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Empire Builder long-distance train. (For more on that event, click here.)

The new station, platform, and parking facilities will be located on the western edge of the airport along existing Canadian Pacific Railway lines and just south of the airport's remote parking Lot B, with 300 parking spaces.

The station will serve rail passengers connecting to the airport, along with rail-only passengers utilizing Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service that provides seven round trips daily between Chicago and Milwaukee.

"This station will connect Amtrak’s Hiawatha service, which boasts the best on-time performance of any Amtrak route, with the approximately six million passengers who pass through General Mitchell Airport each year," Governor Doyle said.

"Along with providing air and rail passengers a convenient travel connection, this new station represents another component of my Grow Wisconsin plan to support economic development and job growth.

"I especially want to thank Senator Kohl for his leadership and hard work in securing the federal funds to make this project possible."

According to the Governor's Office, General Mitchell International Airport and Milwaukee County officials have agreed to provide a shuttle bus connection between the airport and the planned 1,800-square-foot rail station.

Work on the station should be complete before the end of this year, according to the Governor's announcement. (Recent news reports have indicated completion sometime in November.) The Governor's announcement reported the Canadian Pacific Railway already has completed much of the track work required for the project.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quoted state transportation officials May 28 as saying the downtown station renovation would begin in early 2005 and be completed later that same year.

(View a full-color Journal Sentinel map of the airport showing the station location. Use your back browser to return to this Web site for this link and those which follow.)

(Read the Journal Sentinel's June 29 story of the groundbreaking.

(Read the complete text of the Governor's announcement.