……………………………………………………………………    Badger Rails
Wisconsin Association of
Railroad Passengers (WisARP)
Volume 29, Issue 1
Rail Supporters Regroup after Loss of Madison Funding
In a direct response to Wisconsin Governor-elect
Scott Walker’s steadfast opposition to Madison rail
passenger service, U.S. Department of
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Dec. 9,
2010 formally pulled all but $2 million of the funds
previously committed to make Madison service a
reality.
The State of Ohio also lost its high speed rail money
due to opposition from Ohio Gov.-elect John
Kasich. In total, just under $1.2 billion will be
redirected to projects in other states, but none more
“shovel-ready” than Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison.
“High-speed rail will modernize America’s valuable
transportation network, while reinvigorating the
manufacturing sector and putting people back to
work in good-paying jobs,” LaHood said Dec. 9. “I
am pleased that so many other states are
enthusiastic about the additional support they are
receiving to help bring America’s high-speed rail
network to life.”
Those states include California, which received
$624 million, enough to double the miles of track
being upgraded, from 65 miles to 123, between
Bakersfield and Fresno; Florida ($342.3 million)
will use its additional funds on its Tampa-Orlando
high speed line (although Gov.-elect Rick Scott,
like Walker, has pledged to kill this project) and
Illinois ($42.3 million).
In Washington State, where plans for high speed
service north of Seattle have been on hold pending
1 
January-February, 2011
funding availability, will benefit from $161.5
million of the Midwest money.
In a magnanimous gesture, LaHood stated that
Wisconsin would not have to pay back money
committed by the Doyle administration for roadbed
grading and track work south of Watertown.
Left up in the air by the lost funding are renovation
plans for the Milwaukee trainshed and platforms.
Despite what was previously reported, the money
for the trainshed was included in the $810 million.
The State will need to find additional funds to
rebuild the platform to reach compliance with the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
Continued on Page 2
WISARP’s Efforts Going Forward –
A Call to a Tour of Duty
by John Parkyn
The recent level of activity on passenger rail has
provided WISARP an opportunity to increase our
activity levels and influence on the ongoing debates
on passenger rail. During the recent election I mailed
an editorial to most daily newspapers in WI and had
the opportunity to do editorials and interviews from
the Fox Valley to La Crosse, to Beloit to Racine. A
number of media people stated their opinion that
groups that take positions on many subjects have less
credibility and knowledge than those that focus on
specific subjects. For passenger rail we were
designated the most credible. Our Board would like
to build on this reputation going forward and that will
Continued on Page 5
Madison from Page 1
As anticipated by many, the loss of funding
immediately put jobs in jeopardy. Estimates of
employment related to construction, maintenance
and operation of the service have ranged from 4,800
to 10,000 over the course of six years.
On Dec. 13, Talgo announced that it would close its
railcar assembly plant in Milwaukee after the four
sets of equipment currently being assembled (two
for Wisconsin, two for Oregon) are completed.
Talgo expects employment at the plant to peak at
125 through 2012, when the equipment orders will
be completed. Talgo officials said they would keep
the plant open as a maintenance base for the
Wisconsin equipment, but the maximum number of
workers needed for that would be about 60.
Other losses include a Madison restaurant,
Restaurant Magnus, that planned to remake itself
into a bicycle-friendly eatery where an estimated 20
percent of patrons would likely arrive by train, has
shelved those plans and decided to close, at a cost
of 45 jobs.
No doubt other plans linked to an infusion of
travelers arriving in Madison by rail from
Milwaukee, Chicago and beyond have also
dissolved, as have economic development plans in
Watertown and elsewhere.
There are certainly many negative aspects to
Walker’s and LaHood’s decisions, but there are
some positives to keep in mind as well:
• WisARP is and always will be the leading
advocate for passenger trains serving
Wisconsin and neighboring states.
However, the push for high speed rail
brought out a variety of interest groups and
constituencies that have never rallied around
trains quite like this before. These groups
included: the Sierra Club; WisPIRG; various
labor unions; community economic
development groups (such as in
Milwaukee’s Century City neighborhood
which would have benefited from the
presence of a continuing Talgo assembly
2 
plant); progressive policy think tanks; and,
yes, even politicians and lobbyists.
Hopefully those groups will stay engaged as
WisARP continues to push for rail.
• Talgo is building two sets of equipment
which will be used on the Hiawatha Service.
That equipment will help the constantly-
expanding corridor to keep up with demand
and will no doubt draw additional riders
attracted to new equipment the likes of
which will not be running, at least for now,
anywhere else east of the Pacific coast.
• Walker has stated his support for continuing
Hiawatha Service trains, and it will be up to
rail advocates to hold him to that promise of
support, just as he felt obligated to honor his
promise to kill Madison service.
• Business interests in Madison were largely
supportive of bringing rail service to their
city, although Milwaukee business groups
were strangely silent on the issue, even
though most support and use the Hiawatha.
• The planning process for Chicago-Twin
Cites high speed rail continues, carried
forward by the Minnesota Department of
Transportation. Informational meetings on
the study were held in LaCrosse, Fond du
Lac, Eau Claire and Madison in November
and December. The study is considering 25
possible variations on routes. It is expected
that the alternatives selection report will be
released sometime in February.
• Fierce competitors in the routing race for
Chicago-Twin Cities service, La Crosse and
Eau Claire, found common ground in the
push for Chicago-Madison service.
In moving forward, it’s important to stay in a
position to build upon past and ongoing planning
projects, as well as the continuing successes of the
Hiawatha and Empire Builder (despite only one
train a day). WisARP therefore considers Madison
service temporarily “on hold.”
 High Speed Rail will be Our Generation's Legacy
By Ray LaHood, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation
It is difficult to imagine what America would be
like without its interstate highway system. For
decades, our state-of-the-art roads have been the
world's envy, and rightfully so, delivering products
of agriculture and industry to market. They link
people with schools, jobs, family, and health care.
America's highways will remain a crucial compo-
nent of our national transportation network well into
the future. But we can no longer rely exclusively on
roads as a strategy for economic growth over the
long term. That is why the Obama administration
has begun the heavy lifting of building a national
high-speed-rail system that will spur economic
development and job creation along its corridors.
For years, we have watched other countries pass us
by as they build faster trains. Indeed, the benefits of lines is not as simple as repaving a road. This is
high-speed rail are tough to ignore.
It will seamlessly integrate large metropolitan
communities and economies through a safe,
convenient and reliable transportation alternative. It
will ease congestion on our roads and at our
airports. It will reduce our reliance on oil as well as
our carbon emissions. And it will provide a much-
needed boost to America's hard-hit manufacturing
sector during a time of economic struggle.
Since the president proposed his vision for high-
speed rail last year, enthusiasm around the country
has been overwhelming. To date, states have
submitted applications for $64 billion - more than
six times the amount of money available.
Interest in the program has come from the public
and private sectors — from state governments, rail
advocates, workers, environmentalists and a broad
spectrum of businesses eager to help get America's
high-speed-rail industry moving. In fact, last fall, 30
foreign and domestic rail manufacturers committed
to employing American workers and locating or
expanding their base of operations in the U.S. if
selected for high-speed-rail contracts. And the
administration's 100 percent Buy America require-
ment is sure to generate a powerful ripple effect as
manufacturers buy supplies and as workers earn and
spend their paychecks.
Recently, some naysayers have argued that we are
moving too slowly. Others contend that states are
laying track in the wrong places. Two governors-
elect declined to move forward on projects that their
predecessors initiated.
The fact is this kind of monumental endeavor must
take place in a deliberate, thoughtful manner. As
with interstates during the 1950s, we have neither
drawn every single route on the map nor reached
final agreements on every single financing
arrangement. Few states are in a position to quickly
spend billions of dollars without detailed planning.
Building a nationwide network of high-speed rail
hard work.
Nevertheless, signs of progress are clear. In
Vermont and Maine, workers are installing track
manufactured in Columbia City, Ind. Other states,
such as North Carolina and Illinois, are laying
groundwork for major construction in 2011. Florida
is poised to become one of the first states with a
true high-speed-rail line. And President Obama has
committed to creating or improving 4,000 miles of
track as part of his plan for America's next major
six-year transportation legislation.
The reality is that we cannot build our high-speed-
rail network overnight. This sort of undertaking
requires leaders of all parties and persuasions to
come together. It requires states to work in concert.
And it requires Congress and the administration to
maintain focus and commitment.
By staying on track with President Obama's vision,
modern, high-speed passenger service could
connect 80 percent of Americans and restore the
United States' economic competitiveness.
When we look to America's past, it can be easy to
forget that America was never predestined to have
the world's best highways. Progress only became
Continued on Page 4
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 Study Picks Chicago-Milwaukee as Top Potential Midwestern HSR Corridor
A new study released Jan. 11 by the group America
2050 identifies the Hiawatha Corridor as having
the best potential among routes serving the Chicago
“megaregion” for upgrade to high speed rail.
The 56-page study, entitled, “High-Speed Rail in
America,” cites ridership potential as the number
one factor in determining if a corridor is suitable for
investment, identifies the specific conditions that
generate ridership demand, and scores each corridor
according to strength in those areas.
Scoring was based on factors that have contributed
to rail ridership in other systems around the world:
regional and city population size and density,
employment concentrations, rail transit
accessibility, air travel markets, and the
composition of job markets by sector.
Based on the analysis, the report proposed that the
federal government adopt a similar approach to
evaluating where to invest future dollars and calls
for prioritizing investments where the potential for
ridership demand is greatest. It also calls for a new
nationwide study of long distance travel in America,
the majority of which takes place by auto. The last
nationwide study of this kind – the American Travel
Survey – was completed in 1995 and is outdated.
“Our study ranks the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor
as the top corridor in the (Chicago) megaregion,”
the study noted. “Currently the top performing city
pair in the Amtrak network outside of the Northeast,
this corridor ranks among the top nationwide.”
The study also identified Chicago-Minneapolis as
having slightly more potential than Midwestern
routes serving cities such as St. Louis, Detroit and
Cincinnati, due to the larger current market of air
travelers that could be tapped as well as the strong
ridership on the Hiawatha portion of the route.
The report acknowledges that while ridership is an
important factor to screen for investment, it is not
the only consideration. The federal government
must weigh multiple factors, such as project
readiness, ability to acquire rights of way, and local
4 
political support for rail projects – as the rejection
of rail monies by incoming governors in Ohio and
Wisconsin recently showed. The Obama
Administration was also constrained in the first year
of this program by a weak pool of projects to
choose from – a symptom of states generally not
engaging in rail planning efforts prior to 2009 due
to lack of federal support.
America 2050 is a national urban planning initiative
whose goal is to develop an infrastructure plan and
growth strategy for America. It last looked at high
speed rail needs in a 2009 study.
Another plan with similar findings was promoted by
the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of
Commerce (MMAC), which had given its version
of rail improvements to Gov. Scott Walker before
the Madison funding was cancelled. The Milwaukee
Journal-Sentinel reported Jan. 15 that MMAC
officials had given Walker's staff an outline of how
to use $450  million to $500  million of the $810
million in stimulus money for rail upgrades without
adding Milwaukee-to-Madison service.
Part of the MMAC plan focused on Hiawatha
improvements, including renovating the train shed
at the downtown Milwaukee Intermodal station, and
buying three new locomotives and a new set of
passenger cars to supplement the two train sets
already ordered from Talgo Inc. The MMAC plan
also called for upgrading the Canadian Pacific
tracks from Milwaukee to Watertown, which are
used by the Empire Builder. Walker was reportedly
interested in the ideas.
LaHood from Page 3
possible because generations before us dreamed big
and built big - because they imagined, invested and
sacrificed for the infrastructure on which we rely to
this day.
Like our parents and grandparents, we, too, must
exercise the foresight and courage to invest in the
most important infrastructure projects of our time. If
we work together, a national high-speed-rail
network can and will be our generation's legacy.

Badger Rails is published 6 times per year by the
Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers, a
not-for-profit Wisconsin membership association.
WisARP President is John Parkyn, Stoddard, WI,
(608)788-7004, email: jdp@dairynet.com
Badger Rails Editor is Jim Sponholz. Please send
comments or news items to:
badgerrails@gmail.com
Please send membership renewals ($15 per year)
and address changes to: Mark Weitenbeck, 3385 S.
119th Street, West Allis, WI 53227
email: weitenbeck@sbcglobal.net
WisARP on the Web: www.wisarp.org
Duty from Page 1
take a greater level of member volunteer
participation. It is apparent that volunteers get a
better reception from media then do paid staff
members.
I am asking each of you to consider a "tour of duty
for WISARP" on a public relations team which
would focus on distribution of news releases. You
would not be volunteering for the spotlight or even
authorship (unless you were interested in those
aspects) but rather creating and maintaining a
permanent media contact list and ensuring the word
got out by mail, e-mail or fax. WISARP will cover
the costs of the activity. I'd like to make this next
two year period a high point for us as the state rail
policy is shaped. Our organization's main
recommendations remain: a second train to the
Twin Cities from Chicago using Wisconsin routing
through Milwaukee; and the full implementation of
the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.
If you would like to reach me to discuss this
opportunity please contact me at (608) 788-7004.
- John Parkyn, WisARP President
Next Membership Meeting
March 26 in Madison
5 
St. Paul Depot Work Begins
Work has begun at the St. Paul Union Depot,
restoring the building into a transportation hub for
light rail, buses, taxis and bikes and pedestrians.
The Star Tribune reported Jan. 18 that local, state
and federal officials attended ground breaking
ceremonies as a large yellow backhoe clawed into
old postal truck bays behind the historic depot. The
demolition will make room for future rail tracks to
make the building into a regional transportation
hub.
Eventually, light rail, passenger rail, bus lines, taxis,
bicycles and pedestrians will all converge at the
depot. Amtrak and Greyhound have expressed
interest in moving to the depot as well. Work on the
depot is expected to be completed in late 2012.
Second Twin Cities Train Needed Now
Amtrak should immediately add a second train on
the Empire Builder corridor between Chicago and
the Twin Cities, according to several groups
supporting high speed rail on the corridor.
The Minnesota High Speed Rail Commission,
comprised of community leaders along the River
Route, responded to the temporary loss of high
speed rail funding in Wisconsin by pushing for
additional conventional-speed Amtrak service.
Winona, MN Mayor Jerry Miller, chair of the
Commission, told the Winona County Board Jan. 18
that high speed service appears to still be in the
future at this point, and the immediate focus needs
to be on retaining and enhancing the services
already operating on the River Route.
On Jan. 19, the Empire Builder Rail Coalition of La
Crosse formally asked incoming Wisconsin DOT
Secretary Mark Gottlieb to take the lead in having
Amtrak add the additional train, citing strong local
support for Amtrak service as a developing asset for
business travelers.
One week before, the St. Paul Area Chamber of
Commerce made a formal request to Amtrak to add
more service as an achievable way of giving
business travelers a better rail option immediately.
 January-February, 2011

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Railroad Passengers
(WisARP)
 

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