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49-752: The line utilizes the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway's C&M Subdivision from Union Station to Rondout and Metra's Fox Lake Subdivision from Rondout to Fox Lake . Metra is the primary user of the C&;M Subdivision, with commuter services operating between Union Station and Fox Lake. As of June 3, 2024, the public timetable shows 54 trains (27 in each direction) operating on weekdays, with 16 trains running to and from Fox Lake, five running to and from Grayslake , one running to and from Libertyville , four running to and from Lake Forest , and one running to and from Deerfield . Metra operates

98-578: A 12:32 a.m. outbound train from Union Station to Fox Lake. Metra has included the possibility of extending the Milwaukee District North Line along one of two routes in their Cost Benefit Analysis report. If this were to happen, the line could continue northwest via the Fox Lake branch to Richmond , with an additional stop in Spring Grove . Alternatively, the line could be extended north along

147-757: A 50-year agreement with the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, organized by the FSC Corporation, which also owned the Upper Merion and Plymouth Railroad. In August 1992, WSOR gained control of the Wisconsin and Calumet Railroad , which had been created in 1985 to replace the Chicago, Madison and Northern Railroad's operations on state-owned lines formerly part of the Milwaukee Road and Illinois Central Gulf Railroad . The latter

196-627: A combination of owned tracks and trackage and haulage rights on UP tracks) operate a large amount of daily traffic. CPKC has trackage rights from Beaumont to Rosenberg . At the STB hearings, CP and KCS defended their merger proposal, arguing that Houston has sufficient capacity to support the projected increases in traffic. Creel argued that receiving and departure tracks at the west end of Englewood Yard, UP's main yard in Houston, could be lengthened to accommodate longer trains. UP responded that although they had

245-576: A connection 168 miles (270 km) between CSX in Montgomery, Alabama and Meridian, Mississippi , where it joins the Meridian Speedway westbound. Under the proposed agreement, CPKC would acquire the 50.4 miles (81.1 km) segment of the line between Meridian and Myrtlewood, Alabama , so-called Western Line, while CSX, in a nearly separate transaction, will resume operations on the so-called Eastern Line, between Myrtlewood and Montgomery, terminating

294-696: A fully competitive service on north-end grain shipments.'" On April 24, 2024, as part of the company's first anniversary celebrations, the Steam locomotive CPR #2816 known as "The Empress" was launched on a historic transnational tour that will travel most of CPKC's network from Calgary, ending June 7 in Mexico City . Due to a failure to reach an agreement with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, CPKC's Canadian operations, along with those of Canadian National, shut down from August 22, 2024 , as

343-458: A new corridor between Kansas City, Michigan and eastern Canada. This would bypass Chicago, and, according to the plan presented by CN, divert 80,000 long-haul truck shipments to rail annually. The plan included the improvement of the corridor, valued at more than US$ 250 million. A few months later, CN resigned its intentions to purchase the Springfield Line to try to obtain trackage rights on

392-404: A plan to expand the yard, they could not proceed until existing environmental problems, stemming from creosote contamination that has affected the area around Englewood, were resolved ( Southern Pacific for decades operated a facility at Englewood to treat railroad ties with Creosote, and accidental spills of the substance caused severe contamination in the neighborhoods surrounding the yard; UP

441-430: A reduced schedule on weekends, with nine trains operating between Union Station and Fox Lake, with an additional train on Saturday afternoons that short-turns at Lake Forest. This service is supplemented by Amtrak , whose Empire Builder , Hiawatha and Borealis inter-city trains operate on the line between Union Station and Rondout, and also stop at Glenview . Metra began increased reverse commute service on

490-561: A similar agreement with Knight-Swift . The announcement was seen as backing up pre-merger projections that CPKC's single-line service would enable it to compete in the Chicago–Mexico corridor that had been dominated by the Union Pacific and BNSF. In response, on April 24, Union Pacific responded by announcing a partnership with Canadian National Railway and Grupo México (owner of Ferromex and Ferrosur ) to work together to accelerate

539-634: A statement, Gardner acknowledged his mistakes and said he took full responsibility. The vast majority of the contributions were to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker . On November 29, 2011, it was announced that WSOR would be acquired by Watco , with the deal to close on January 1, 2012. In December 2012, the state of Wisconsin issued $ 17.1 million in financial aid to WSOR to rehabilitate 11 miles (18 km) of rail line between Plymouth and Kohler , which connects with existing WSOR tracks at Plymouth. Service has begun as of 2015. WSOR operated

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588-466: A voting trust to take control of KCS would not hamper competition. The voting trust allowed CP to become the beneficial owner of KCS in December 2021, but the two railroads operated independently until receiving approval for a merger of operations from the STB. Keith Creel , President and CEO of CP and future CEO of the merged company, chose the name for the new company as a way to honor the long history of

637-540: Is currently working with the City of Houston and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on a remediation plan for the existing contamination in the area). The Board suggested, to mediate between the disputing parties, the possibility that, pending merger approval or post-merger, KCS or eventually CPKC, apply to UP for trackage rights from Texarkana to Laredo via San Antonio and Austin to reroute part of

686-565: Is headquartered in Madison, which is also a central hub terminal. The train dispatching office is located in Horicon. Locomotive maintenance is centered in Janesville, with secondary work also being performed at Horicon. WSOR's Horicon paint shops perform contract work on both rolling stock and locomotives. WSOR began operations in 1980 when the state acquired several Milwaukee Road branch lines and signed

735-548: Is one of several Metra routes operated by Metra crews, but trains are dispatched under contract by the CPKC, which continues to hold trackage rights. The Milwaukee District North Line route and Metra's track ownership diverge from the Chicago - Milwaukee - Minneapolis mainline at Rondout, Illinois and proceeds northwesterly toward Fox Lake. This secondary route, owned by Metra, was known as the Janesville Subdivision (J-Sub) of

784-754: The C&;M Subdivision and continue from Rondout to Wadsworth , with additional stops in Green Oaks , Waukegan (separate from the Union Pacific North Line 's station ,) and Gurnee . Before 1982, this line was operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road). When the Milwaukee Road went bankrupt, the Regional Transportation Authority took over operation of

833-932: The Kansas City Current of the National Women's Soccer League announced a 10-year naming rights deal for the Current's new stadium in Kansas City , Missouri , the first stadium ever constructed specifically for a professional women's sports team. Wisconsin and Southern Railroad The Wisconsin and Southern Railroad ( reporting mark WSOR ) is a Class II regional railroad in Southern Wisconsin and Northeastern Illinois currently operated by Watco . It operates former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) and Chicago and North Western Railway (C&NW) trackage, mostly acquired by

882-776: The Milwaukee District West Line , arguing that the projected increase in traffic would bring delays in the provision of Metra's passenger rail service, as well as a decrease in the quality of life and the negative consequences on economic development in the communities located along the line. In STB hearings, Canadian National, who had already lost KCS to CP, presented a plan to acquire the KCS line—the former Gateway Western , which linked Kansas City to Springfield, Illinois ; St. Louis, Missouri ; and East St. Louis, Illinois —tie it to its former Illinois Central Gilman Subdivision, and thus create via both Springfield and via St. Louis

931-465: The Milwaukee Road . The mainline north of Rondout is owned by the CPKC through its American subsidiary Soo Line Railroad and sees Amtrak and freight traffic only. Metra service and track ownership end at Fox Lake. The tracks beyond Fox Lake are owned by the State of Wisconsin and operated for freight service by the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad . Commuter service beyond Fox Lake, abolished in 1982, served

980-518: The Soo Line Railroad in 1998 (sold outright in 2003). The most recent acquisition was north of Milwaukee in 2005, when the state purchased the ex-Milwaukee Road line between Saukville and Kiel , which Wisconsin Central Ltd. was going to abandon. Soon thereafter, WSOR leased in part and bought in part an ex-C&NW line to Sheboygan from UP. WSOR was named the 2009 Regional Railroad of

1029-627: The " Omaha /Council Bluffs-Kansas City corridor, with a further ability to move the grain traffic originating in this area to the Gulf." UP also said that it complied with the condition imposed by the ICC for the merger with Katy, "by granting KCS 'North End' rights — that is, rights to operate in the Omaha/Council Bluffs-Kansas City corridor — with ancillary 'South End' rights 'between Beaumont and Houston/Galveston' that KCS needed 'in order to provide

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1078-677: The "Falcon Premium" service of UP, CN and Grupo México. Previously, and as part of preparatory moves for the day after the merger, CP and KCS launched a series of test interline services between the Lázaro Cárdenas Port in the Michoacán Mexican state, and the Bensenville Yard in Chicago. On June 28, 2023, CPKC announced the intent to jointly acquire with CSX Transportation the Meridian and Bigbee Railroad (MNBR). The MNBR creates

1127-645: The MNBR line will allow CSX traffic destined for Mexico to be delivered directly to CPKC, eliminating the need for a third intermediary railroad to move such traffic. Currently, CSX traffic bound for Mexico is exchanged with the Union Pacific in New Orleans , who then takes it to the cross-border gateway in Laredo, Texas , where it is delivered to CPKC. MNBR's Western Line, once acquired by CPKC, will be renamed Haverty Subdivision, in honor of former KCS CEO and President Mike Haverty ,

1176-565: The Milwaukee District North Line to Richmond, Illinois , and constructing a second branch, running along the CPKC main line from Rondout north to Wadsworth . However, there are not any plans to construct the extension. Between 2014 and 2019, annual ridership declined from 7,237,913 to 6,549,143, an overall decline of 9.5%. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , ridership dropped to 1,556,783 passengers in 2020 and to 1,094,292 in 2021. Despite this overall annual decline, from April to December 2021, ridership

1225-625: The STB, on the grounds that the two daily train pairs that CPKC and CSX plan to interchange across the M&;B line will not cause congestion on the Speedway. In August 2023, UP and CPKC butted heads again, this time over the trackage rights that KCS once held between the "south end" in Kansas City and Council Bluffs , Iowa , over UP tracks. CPKC informed the STB that UP was blocking the trackage and haulage rights originally granted to KCS, which dated back to

1274-555: The US Surface Transportation Board (STB) blocked the CN deal, ruling that the company could not use a voting trust to assume control of KCS because it might reduce competition in the railroad industry. On September 12, 2021, KCS accepted a new $ 31 billion offer from CP and terminated its agreement with CN. KCS's shareholders voted to approve the merger on December 10, 2021. The STB had already ruled that CP's plan to use

1323-600: The United States, and is the only single-line rail corporation ever to connect the three countries. CPKC is headquartered in Calgary and led by President and CEO Keith Creel . Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) announced on March 21, 2021, that it was planning to purchase Kansas City Southern (KCS) for US$ 29 billion. Thirty days later, Canadian National Railway (CN) issued a competing offer of $ 33.7 billion. But in August,

1372-671: The WSOR system is divided into two divisions, the Northern Division and the Southern Division. The Northern Division is essentially the original WSOR trackage from 1980, with a few new lines that have been added around the Milwaukee area since the 1990s. It includes the line northwest from Milwaukee to Horicon , where it splits into branches to Cambria and Oshkosh, as well as a line from Milwaukee north to Kiel . The Southern Division includes

1421-530: The Year by Railway Age magazine. On April 11, 2011, WSOR's president and chief executive officer (CEO), William Gardner, was charged with two felonies after he was accused of funneling more than $ 60,000 in illegal campaign contributions through WSOR employees during the 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial election . Gardner agreed to plead guilty to two felony counts. Under a deal, prosecutors agreed not to seek jail time but instead would seek two years of probation. In

1470-523: The communities of Spring Grove , Solon Mills , Zenda , and Walworth . Until 1984, there was a stop in Rondout. The station building itself was demolished in the mid-1960s. The station was located at Rondout Junction, where the line crosses the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway 's tracks at a diamond junction. Before 1982, service ran as far north as Walworth, Wisconsin . Metra has conducted studies on extending

1519-468: The companies engaged in a lockout . CPKC operates about 32,000 kilometres (20,000 mi) of rail across Canada, Mexico and the United States. As of April 2023, CPKC has around 20,000 employees. CPKC has its global headquarters in Calgary , Alberta, Canada with its U.S. headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri , and its Mexico headquarters in Mexico City and Monterrey . Company executives said that merging CP and KCS would be "straightforward" because

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1568-437: The exchange of intermodal traffic between Mexico and Chicago or further north into Canada. On May 11, 2023, CPKC launched its new service "Mexico Midwest Express (MMX)", numbered I180 and I181, which is mainly oriented to intermodal and automobile transportation, and also provides an approximate travel time of 98 hours between Chicago and Kansas City to Monterrey and San Luis Potosi , shorter travel times than those offered by

1617-418: The first and only single-line railway connecting Canada, the U.S. and Mexico with an approximately 32,000-kilometre (20,000 mi) network. Fully integrating the two railroads is expected to take up to three years. Seven days after the merger, the company announced that it had landed its first major contract, handling Schneider National intermodal traffic between the U.S. and Mexico. On April 25, it signed

1666-671: The lease currently in place with MNBR. MNBR will cease operating between Myrtlewood and Montgomery, although it may continue to operate between Meridian and Myrtlewood and serve existing customers on that segment of the line. If the STB approves the transaction, this will provide a new direct connection between the two companies' networks (CSX and CPKC already have connections New Orleans and in St. Louis, Missouri ). In compensation, MNBR owner Genesee & Wyoming would receive CPKC properties in Alberta along with rights on CPKC lines. The connection through

1715-552: The line on March 4, 2019. This service is part of a pilot-program funded under a two-year, public-private partnership between Metra and Lake County Partners. The increased reverse commute service was temporarily suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic , but was reinstated in December 2022. On June 3, 2024, Metra updated the timetable and stopping patterns for trains to better reflect current conditions, along with adding an additional late evening departure in each direction, with an inbound 10:30 p.m. train from Fox Lake to Union Station, and

1764-606: The line two trains per day in each direction, at least for the first five years. A few days before CPKC and CSX officially took over the former M&B line, Schneider National, CPKC's main intermodal partner and one of CSX's major partners, announced that a new interline service connecting the Southeast (Florida and Georgia) with the Texas and Mexico markets via the route between Montgomery and Meridian will be launched beginning in December. CN and Amtrak unsuccessfully raised objections to

1813-410: The line, always with the same intention of creating the corridor proposed in the original plan to purchase the line filed with the STB. The STB would ultimately reject plans submitted by CN to operate on the Springfield Line. Despite all the objections raised at the hearings, the final approval of the merger came on March 15, 2023, and the merger was completed on April 14, 2023. The merger created

1862-732: The line. By 1984, the line passed to RTA's newly created Commuter Rail Division, which rebranded as Metra in 1985. Metra acquired the line from the Soo Line Railroad in 1987. The Soo Line then ran freight trains on the line via trackage rights before its absorption into the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1990. CP Railway merged with the Kansas City Southern Railway in April 2023 into the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited, or CPKC Railway. Today this service

1911-414: The lines acquired from the Wisconsin and Calumet Railroad in 1992, centered on Madison and Janesville, as well as several lines acquired in the 1990s in the Madison area. The two divisions are not physically connected with WSOR-owned trackage, but trackage rights over a short section of Canadian National's Waukesha Subdivision from Waukesha to Slinger provide a link between the two divisions. WSOR

1960-736: The merger between the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MKT), better known as "The Katy", and UP in 1988. CPKC inherited those rights from KCS. UP quickly came out to question the presentation made by CPKC to the Board, saying that the trackage rights in question were much more narrow in scope. When UP acquired the Katy, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) required UP, as a condition of merger approval, to grant other railroads (including KCS) trackage and haulage rights to operate in

2009-423: The name Transportadora Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM), which would ultimately become the catalyst for CP to acquire KCS and CPKC to be formed. In October 2024, the STB approved CPKC's purchase of the M&B line between Meridian and Myrtlewood, along with CSX's resumption of operations between Myrtlewood and Burkville. The agreement became effective 16 November, 2024. Both CPKC and CSX will initially interchange across

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2058-629: The north-south traffic, bypassing Houston. The two companies demanded that CPKC perform construction work on new sidings on both the lines that meet in the Houston area and on Brownsville Subdivision between Placedo and Robstown , near Corpus Christi , where CPKC trains leave the UP tracks in South Texas. Metra also opposed the merger, along with a group of West suburban Chicago communities ( DuPage County , Bartlett , Bensenville , Elgin , Itasca , Hanover Park , Roselle , Wood Dale and Schaumburg ) on

2107-484: The original driver of the idea to acquire MNBR more than two decades ago, to tie the KCS and CSX rail networks. Haverty, KCS CEO and President from 1995 to 2015, was the driving force behind the company's expansion into to Mexico during his tenure, acquiring Tex-Mex in 1995, and then, that same year, win along with Transportadora Maritima Mexicana (TMM) the concession of the Mexican Northeast Railroad under

2156-508: The purchase of the M&B line, fearing that increased traffic on the Meridian Speedway would cause congestion. CN required CPKC report the daily number of trains running through the Speedway to know if there will indeed be congestion on the line. Amtrak, for its part, requested that the length of trains running daily on the line be adjusted to the length of the existing sidings along the route. The CN and Amtrak requests were rejected by

2205-686: The railroads only touch at Kansas City, and interchange volumes were relatively low, with about four trains per day as of September 2021. They also cited that the two companies largely used the same back-office information technology systems. The railroad maintains its own police force, the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Police . CPKC inherited and renewed CP's existing sponsorship of the Canadian Women's Open golf tournament in July 2023, extending it through 2026. In October 2023, CPKC and

2254-672: The state of Wisconsin in the 1980s. Within Wisconsin, WSOR connects with four western Class I railroads : BNSF Railway , Canadian National Railway , Canadian Pacific Railway , and Union Pacific Railroad . Through trackage rights over Metra , WSOR accesses Chicago to connect with the two eastern Class I railroads, CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway . WSOR also has access to harbor facilities in Prairie du Chien , and transload facilities are located in Milwaukee , Janesville , Madison , and Oshkosh . For train operation purposes,

2303-472: The two preceding companies. Union Pacific and BNSF Railway raised objections to the merger with the STB. Both companies were concerned about CPKC's projected increase in traffic because it would unduly congest UP owned tracks through the Houston area (Houston, West Belt, East Belt, Beaumont, Harrisburg and Glidden Subdivisions), where both UP and BNSF (the latter of which operates in the Houston area through

2352-711: Was abandoned in 1997 except for a short stub in Madison . The short stub was abandoned in 2012, when the Charter Street Heating Plant in Madison discontinued using coal as their fuel source. WSOR thus gained access to Chicago (through trackage rights over Metra from Fox Lake ), Janesville , Madison, and Prairie du Chien . Further expansion came with a lease from the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) of Madison-area ex-C&NW trackage in 1996, and of an ex-Milwaukee Road line between Madison and Watertown from

2401-513: Was higher than in the same period in 2020. Canadian Pacific Kansas City Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited , doing business as CPKC (known as Canadian Pacific Railway Limited until 2023), is a Canadian railway holding company . Through its primary operating railroad subsidiaries, Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) and Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS), it operates about 32,000 kilometres (20,000 mi) of rail in Canada, Mexico, and

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