an amendment to the Surface Transportation Investment Act of 2021 which would require the Department of Transportation (not Amtrak itself) to evaluate the restoration of discontinued long-distance routes including the North Coast Hiawatha. The bill passed the Senate Commerce Committee with bipartisan support, and was later rolled into President Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was passed into law in November 2021. The report must be delivered to Congress within two years. The law also provides $2.4 billion in new funds to Amtrak's long-distance route network. Due to passenger rail having an inherently lower environmental footprint than driving or flying, rail links are likely to improve as a result of action to mitigate the climate catastrophe. Other stations in La Crosse The previous Milwaukee Road station, named the "Cameron House", was a combined depot and hotel located near downtown La Crosse, next to the Freight House. The station was built in 1880 and gutted by fire on December 24, 1916, leading to its razing shortly thereafter. This event sparked a public debate about having a union station in La Crosse to serve each of the five railroads at the time. The Wisconsin Railroad Commission became involved in the discussion over many years. It became evident that such a station would likely be located in North La Crosse rather than the downtown area so that the Milwaukee Road would not have to back their trains into the La Crosse station. The issue was finally resolved in 1925, allowing the Milwaukee Road to put through plans for a new passenger depot of their own on La Crosse's North Side on St. Andrew Street, to replace the shack that had been hastily constructed after the fire while the debate of a union station raged on. The Chicago and Northwestern Railway had a terminal station located downtown bounded by 3rd Street, 4th Street and Pine Street. This depot was lightly used compared to the Milwaukee Road and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad stations. The Chicago and Northwestern instead routed most traffic via their station in nearby Onalaska, including the Minnesota 400 so that trains would not have to back up into the La Crosse station. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy maintained two stations in La Crosse throughout their history. One was located in North La Crosse, and continues to exist to this day, albeit no longer used as a station. In addition, there