This website has been archived from TrainWeb.org/kenrail to TrainWeb.US/kenrail.
In 1998 the semi-annual statewide meeting of Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers assembled in Racine, the first statewide meeting hosted by KenRail since a 1993 WisARP membership meeting in Kenosha.
At the March, 1998 meeting the featured topics were a nine-state initiative for 'high speed' trains radiating from a hub in downtown Chicago and commuter trains for the Badger state, typified by emerging enthusiasm in Racine and neighboring cities for extending service truncated at Kenosha. The local interest in commuter trains spurred a lively morning dialogue among four panelists addressing benefits anticipated by adding commuter trains, and dialogue between them and a thoroughly engaged audience. Similar eagerness for high speed trains voiced in response to Ron Fiedler's explanation and in questions posed to him highlighted the afternoon session. (Mister Fiedler is a former Secretary of Wisc. DOT and a steady advocate for the nascent Midwest Regional Rail System.) That Racine meeting stands as a milestone along the way to bringing viable transportation alternatives -- high speed trains and commuter trains -- to Wisconsin, as other states and metropolitan agencies have fostered resumed reliance on trains in heavily traveled corridors, whether between large cities or within the imprecise bounds of prospering metropolises.
The journey to achieving Wisconsin parity with other states' multi-faceted surface transportation investments began rather informally, as Milwaukee sought improved train service to Chicago in the late-1980s, via the inland route selected by Amtrak in 1971. When a statewide referendum in 1992 resoundingly affirmed the constitutional amendment enacted by the Legislature, overcoming long-past referendum failures, railroad projects and services became eligible for Dept. of Transportation support. Two years later, an Amtrak study of the Hiawatha corridor, one of the shortest operated by the national passenger railroad at 86 miles, declined adding a stop for Kenosha due to protecting its primary competitive advantage: greater speed than Interstate highway travel.
So, in 1994, KenRail began its quest for trains which could serve its principal populations, in Racine and Kenosha, while respecting the priorities and differing service concerns of Amtrak. KenRail began urging a southeast Wisconsin commuter train counterpart to nationally acclaimed service by Metra in northeast Illinois (which terminates in Kenosha on its Union Pacific North Line). By 1996, a "feasibility" study by regional planners was underway, meant to assess in a preliminary way whether commuter trains are even feasible in highway-oriented Wisconsin. So, in March, 1998 the WisARP session marked the first formal confluence of high speed intercity train support and commuter train backing. As though to accentuate the dual need for Wisconsin train services, favorable response to the Midwest Regional Rail System inititative was seconded by a favorable regional recommendation, that lakeshore commuter trains are eminently feasible.
Mister Fiedler's advocacy for 110-mph trains connecting major metropolises also introduced the occasion for the Governor's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Passenger Rail to commence scrutiny of the Midwest proposal. Three Task Force members reside in Racine and Kenosha, and their participation helped draw Task Force colleagues' attention to complementary travel needs within metropolitan areas.
Milwaukee is the largest Wisconsin example of a metropolis; Chicago is the largest Midwest example. The Amtrak corridor between them will gain more trains, at higher speeds when MWRRS nears completion. The complement to those plans is commuter trains along a separate, less hectic route, as set forth by Amtrak in 1994. Thus, KenRail regards the completion of the Task Force's deliberations as a most plausible milestone, more notable than any since 1992, along the journey to achieving Wisconsin parity with other states' multi-faceted transportation investments.
Drawing on that background, KenRail issued the following statement to the Governor's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Passenger Rail as it wraps up its work. (KenRail has been only a small voice among many now calling for train service in qualifying parts of the Badger state, and we will add links from this website to others' endorsements of train service, as those statements become known to KenRail.)
Two years of detailed consideration by the Governor's Blue Ribbon
Task Force on Passenger Rail are culminating in dual acceptance
of high speed trains for travel corridors between major metropolitan
centers and of commuter trains for heavily traveled corridors
within major metropolises. KenRail, the Kenosha-Racine group advocating
better train service in affiliation with Wisconsin Association
of Railroad Passengers, heartily endorses both concepts and the
favorable findings of the Task Force.
High speed trains will benefit cities like Madison, Milwaukee and selected other Wisconsin cities in the corridor defined by the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative between Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn., and Chicago, Ill., hub for the planned nine-state system.
Commuter trains will benefit Milwaukee and perhaps Madison, the two largest metro areas in the state. Just as important, commuter trains will enhance Wisconsin access to neighboring Illinois and Minnesota metropolises. (The pre-eminence of Illinois Metra service is already familiar to KenRail and its two counties because of existing 'grand-fathered' service at Kenosha.) Southeast Wisconsin cities sandwiched between Milwaukee and Chicago can particularly gain from commuter trains (Cudahy, Oak Creek, Racine), as Illinois cities already benefit (Waukegan, Lake Forest, Evanston) from service along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Adding travel capacity for peak 'rush' hours for Wisconsin's largest metropolis is a vital concern for the economic well-being of Milwaukee, of its neighboring suburbs, and of other Wisconsin cities.
The Governor's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Passenger Rail has
formulated a commendable pair of reports, for high speed trains
and for commuter trains, and KenRail urges speedy implementation
of its recommendations.
