Kenosha station

Kenosha is a railroad station in Kenosha, Wisconsin, served by Metra's Union Pacific North Line. It is the northern terminus of the line, which runs south to the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago. Kenosha is the only Metra station outside of Illinois, and is 51.6 mi from Ogilvie Transportation Center. Because it is located outside the RTA's jurisdiction, the service to the station is partially subsidized by the city of Kenosha. It is the northernmost station of the entire Metra system, making it the most northern station in the entire RTA network. As of 2018, Kenosha is the 135th busiest of Metra's 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 345 weekday boardings.

It is the only passenger station in Kenosha County, since Amtrak's closest station is in Sturtevant.

The station is linked to Kenosha's streetcar line, which stops on the far side of the station's parking lot.

As of February 16, 2024, Kenosha is served by twelve trains (six in each direction) on weekdays, by twelve trains (five inbound, seven outbound) on Saturdays, and by six trains (three in each direction) on Sundays and holidays. There is a small coach yard at Kenosha where trainsets are stored overnight and on weekends as well as a Union Pacific maintenance facility.

History


The station was opened in 1855 by the Chicago and Milwaukee Railway and was acquired by the Chicago and North Western Railway in 1869. The station served many C&NW trains such as the Twin Cities 400, Flambeau 400, Shoreland 400, Valley 400, and Peninsula 400. The last intercity passenger train stopped in Kenosha in 1971; since then it has only been used for commuter services. Other commuter services extended from Chicago into Wisconsin but were eventually discontinued. The KD Line ran from Kenosha to Harvard and closed in 1939. The Northwest Line had a branch to Williams Bay that was cut back to Lake Geneva in 1966 and discontinued north of the state line in 1975. The Milwaukee Road had commuter service to Walworth until 1982 when it was cut back to Fox Lake.

Though Kenosha Station pre-dates the Civil War, it was restored in the period between 2004 and 2006. Metra does not have a ticket office there, and the waiting room serves as dining area for a fast food restaurant.

The station has been chosen as the southern terminus of various forms of the proposed Kenosha–Racine–Milwaukee regional rail service, first in the KRM Commuter Link proposal from 2010 (with cross-platform transfers to Metra), then later in the Wisconsin Transit & Realty proposal from 2022.

Transit connections

 * Kenosha Area Transit
 * Kenosha Streetcar
 * Coach USA (Wisconsin Coach Lines) - Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Route