MILWAUKEE — The state of Wisconsin has filed a brief document with the Federal Transit Administration in support of a private corporation’s plan to provide commuter rail service between Milwaukee and Kenosha, Wis. — a long-discussed but moribund project dating to 1998.
The two-page “Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Commuter Rail Project Development Profile” was filed by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in conjunction with the Wisconsin Transit & Realty Group. It proposes a 33-mile operation from the Kenosha station served by Metra’s Union Pacific-North line to the downtown Milwaukee Intermodal Station, with seven intermediate stops.
The state DOT said in a statement to WUWM-FM that it was serving as the public sponsor required by FTA rules for the proposal from the Wisconsin Transit & Realty Group, “a private corporation that will own and operate the commuter service if the FTA agrees to the plan. … There are no state funds associated with the project, as all costs will be paid by WTRG.” The application, the DOT said, was a request to enter the project development phase of the FTA’s Capital Investment Grant Program, during which WisDOT will lead an environmental study of the proposal.
The proposed route would use an existing Union Pacific freight line, with infrastructure upgrades including improvements to allow 79-mph operation, up to three new 10,000-foot sidings, implementation of positive train control, and other improvements. The proposal also calls for use of hydrogen-powered trainsets, and initially would operate only during peak periods on weekdays. The estimated capital cost is $460 million.
WUWM also notes that Wisconsin Transit & Realty’s website is incomplete, listed phone numbers do not appear to be working, and that the officials listed on the site did not respond to emails.
The concept of a Milwaukee-Kenosha commuter line began receiving consideration in 1998, when a study by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission found the idea to be feasible. Additional studies were conducted between 2005 and 2011 by the planning commission, and then by the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority, created by the state legislature in 2009. The legislation creating the transit agency was repealed in 2011, but some of the material it produced remains available on an archived website. The Racine County Eye reports the idea received a brief revival in 2021 by Racine officials hoping to take advantage of federal infrastructure money.
Rush-hour only service? Metra will be attempting to determine what rush hour looks like going forward by way of a rider survey. The old traditional “rush hours” may never return as we knew them. Already, Metra is noticing a more spread-out commute pattern, and ridership is still only a fraction of pre-pandemic daily total.
There is 7-day a week bus service Between Kenosha and Milwaukee. 7 trips each way weekdays, 6 Saturdays and 4 Sundays and holidays. Service is operated by Coach USA/Wisconsin Coach Lines as a service of Racine Transit Sysyem.
There is also local traffic on Amtrak from the Sturtevant (Hwy 20) park-ride to either MIwaukee Airport or Milwaukee downtown. An Amtrak park-ride could be added at Hwy 158 Kenosha County. Admitedly both these are cornfield park-rides; neither is center-city Kenosha or Racine. The UPRR line (ex-CNW) goes through the urban areas of Racine and Kenosha. It’s also slow single iron through those cities and the Milwaukee County cities of South Milwaukee, Cudahy and St. Francis.
To get from ex-CNW into downtown Milwaukee Amtrak station, as in this proposed commuter service, would overload CPR which already carries Empire Builder, Hiawatha, and three mile long frieghts. CPR has already staked a claim for substantial improvements to add even one Hiawatha pair, let alone commuter trains off the UP.
That one additional Hiawatha pair proposal disappeared during the COVID shutdowns. I don’t know if Wisconsin would bring it up again.
Not that I think this will happen, but the plan to “operate only during peak periods on weekdays” spells failure. “Commuter” rail will always be lackluster in its usage. It caters to only the 9 to 5 commuter. All day frequent service (7 days a week) is the key to successful regional rail.
460 Million. Ya right. And California High Speed rail was initially supposed to cost how much and be done when? And those costs are STILL adding up. Im sure the cost of this, if it gets off the ground, will be way over 460M. And what kind of train frequency are we talking? Not every Metra train on the UP-N runs into or out of Kenosha. Plus, you already have the Hiawathas making the run in an hour and a half.
Really, people, where would this be without a federal grant? The Wisconsin legislature would not appropraite ten cents for these consulting fees.
Instead the GOP-led WI legislature authorized $1 million investigating imaginary election fraud. The giant investigation made attorneys wealthy and turned up ZERO cases of fraud. The fraud is the WI GOP and its never-ending dishonesty.
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-wisconsin-lawsuits-presidential-16d90c311d35d28b9b5a4024e6fb880c
If there was that much demand for service in this corridor the state(s) would have been more assertive in initiating it but obviously there is a lot of push back from the communities & their xenophobic fear of what it might bring they gladly give up a mobility option for these unfounded fears just another justification to continue their love affair with their cars. No passenger travel mode can survive without direct/indirect public $$ no private entity is going to buck that trend without an ulterior motive to take advantage of the losses. FL is autocentric with scattered & dispersed communities making Brightline an unlikely choice for most Floridians including visitors who want the mobility of their rental cars to see all the sights. As for Gov Evers I feel sorry for him a sane voice amongst all the insane Trumpers!
OK. So we had this outfit in Greater Boston that had similar nebulous backing and ideas. An idea for a commuter train from Worcester to Providence or vice versa. Even bought an FL-9 or two. Ran a few test trains on the P&W who in those days would do anything for you if you paid them enough (would that more RR’s were like that: they’d have more business). Forget its name; no, I didn’t ride its promotional train as I was busy elsewhere and I already had the mileage. Then it started having other wild brainstorms: a Nashua-Worcester commuter train (Timmy Mellon must have been hard up), etc. They finally vanished leaving behind a pile of bills and two FL-9’s.
And the money of some foolish railfan (and non-railfan) investors who actually thought that this proposal was feasible and would succeed.
Sounds like they’re taking a page out of the Brightline playbook use rail losses to offset huge real estate profits.
Well, you got it wrong, Riley! The people have to get to and from that real estate somehow to make that real estate worth anything–that’s what Brightline did and Philly Suburban, the West End Street Railway, and countless others did. Now when that real estate bubble bursts (think Florida RE Bubble of the 1920’s) things will come crashing down. Hydrogen? Why not electric? Say, why not use electric to come into Milwaukee running on city streets? One could even go to Chicago and come in over the El into the Loop itself! Why Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee would be a great name for the outfit–it’s only been gone for 59 years!
Not this one again.
A passenger train proposal that was found to be utterly without merit the first time around, resurrects from the Madison – Washington swamp. Whoever or whatever the Wisconsin Transit and Realty Group is or is supposed to be (or even if it exists), purports to sponsor a train route that won’t require state funds. Yeah, sure. Folks, greenies, rail advocates, even if you want this train, you have to ask yourself how it comes to be sponsored by a group that no one in Wisconsin has ever heard of.
Welcome to America, the worst – governed nation on earth. There will always be countless millions for bureaucrats and consultants to apply for grants for a train that will never run.
I’m the only Republican in Wisconsin who is 100% sure that Dem. governor Tony Evers will be re-elected next November. So prepare for four more years of this mindless waste.
I sure hope Tony Evers is re-elected!
Me too!
Do you ever have anything positive to say about anything?
You sure seem to have very tight cranky pants on 24x7x365. And those kids have been on your lawn for decades.
The Wisconsin GOP lacks all credibility given its illegal, coordinated effort to create a second, false set of electors in 2020-21. This same GOP supported Scott Walker whose reactionary efforts put Wisconsin far behind Minnesota in new investment and thwarted new rail efforts because he would be seen to be working with Mr. Obama. Also the same GOP who backed Ron Johnson, among the most ineffectual and least-capable members of the Senate. The slam on Madison makes sense; it is both an-intellectual commentary as well as anti-progressivism in a state renowned for its progressive history dating back to Robert La Follette.