Tunnel City is an unincorporated census-designated place in the town of Greenfield, Monroe County, Wisconsin, United States, named after the train tunnel through a hill just to the west of town. This first tunnel was built by the La Crosse and Milwaukee railroad, and used by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. The first tunnel was complete…Tunnel City is an unincorporated census-designated place in the town of Greenfield, Monroe County, Wisconsin, United States, named after the train tunnel through a hill just to the west of town. This first tunnel was built by the La Crosse and Milwaukee railroad, and used by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. The first tunnel was completed in 1858 as the last segment of the rail route from Milwaukee to La Crosse. The station was simply named "Tunnel". This tunnel was updated in 1861. It was replaced by another tunnel directly to its north in 1874. That tunnel, and the railroad itself, is now owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway, whose Soo Line subsidiary purchased the rail assets of the Milwaukee Road in February 1985. The CP also hosts Amtrak’s Empire Builder passenger train, though rail traffic is dominated by freight as the Tomah Subdivision. The Empire Builder does not stop in Tunnel City. The Soo Line had raised the bore of the tunnel 14 inches completed in 1993 to accommodate double stack traffic. The Soo Line considered excavating the hill or "daylighting" the tunnel bore.
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