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KenRail - steadfast for better train service in southeastern Wisconsin

K-R-M comments Racine Transit Task Force cites broad coalition in support for SERTA and KRM; June, 2009 Milw. Biz Times Roundy Foods CEO endorses KRM Milwaukee Journal Sentinel guest commentary by three area corporate executives; December 17, 2006 K-R-M stations Kenosha Racine Cudahy "Rail District" Milwaukee station owned by WisDOT Click button for info about		Cities eager for KRM, as told by their local newspapers Kenosha News editorial Feb 2, 2009, KRM deserves federal stimulus support, County Board nod Racine Journal Times, RTA for job access Apr. 23, 2009 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb.14 editorial three good gains, singular preconditions Nov. 23 opinion, KRM now, or be left behind Nov 16 editorial, RTA OK, conditionally Nov 9 opinion, by League of Women Voters president, RTA must lead... May 18 op-ed by community leader Michael Cudahy RTA funding supported in 2007 letter from Milwaukee leaders, of NAACP and ATU Local 998
	Click on photo for separate page sketching area bicycle trails. Sunny weather prevails on Saturday before Memorial Day as the midday Metra train arrives Kenosha and bicycles emerge for weekend use. Kenosha and Racine county connected via bike trail when former North Shore right of way was converted for jogging and biking more than 30 years ago. Trail expansion continues in both counties, notably a northside Kenosha trail added in 2008 west to University of Wisconsin-Parkside and nearby Petrifying Springs county park. Poerio city park and Carthage College are among other locations convenient to bike trails north of Kenosha and its Metra station. Metra schedules on Sunday and holidays are minimal and Kenosha Area Transit buses do not operate. However, trails and usable city streets in the Harborpark district east of the station and east of downtown offer appealing ways to start a leisurely bike ride any day of the week. Lakefront biking is also feasible across Simmons Island and into John F. Kennedy Park. Local buses include a bike carrier on most buses, which operate Monday-Saturday. South from the Kenosha station, the most popular trail extends along the abandoned North Shore RR right of way into Illinois, and consulting separate maps for Illinois trails should guide you. Certain Kenosha and Pleasant Prairie streets are suitable for bicycling, but avoid use of State Hwy 32. Kenosha area activities are listed at several sites, including these three: Kenosha News events listing City of Kenosha events sponsored by Parks Dept. Also links to museum, library, and convention bureau listings Kenosha County parks and golf courses. Bike or hike from Metra station to annual July 4th Star Spangled Spectacular at Harborpark, July 4. Study Metra Northline Sunday/Holiday schedules (southbound / northbound) and separate page of added Fourth of July schedules to decide on a day trip or overnight weekend holiday experience. Racine area listings begin at its City Parks Department page.

Fast trains returning to Wisconsin soon. Watch for more news linked from here

Updated June 28, 2009

Senators club a long fly ball, state Assembly catches it Friday evening, then votes 51-46 to throw it to Governor Doyle (June 28) - Eighty-eight days after the Legislature's Joint Committee on Finance heard numerous statements in support of transit for Racine and its neighboring counties at J.I. Case High School, for KRM commuter trains and an RTA to oversee all of it, the state Senate on Thursday adopted by a 17-15 vote the budget bill which includes an RTA compromise hammered out during the past ten days. Some features generated by Joint Finance survived, some favored by the Senate prevailed, and Assembly preference appears in key items. Key transit items related to local bus service and RTA:

• two transit authorities established for southeastern Wisconsin -
  • SERTA, the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority, assuming oversight of planned KRM commuter trains and their progress from plan to actual operation, has sole authority to apply to FTA for New Start funding for commuter train
  • MTA, the Milwaukee County Transit Authority, assuming oversight and funding for other transit services in the state's most populous county, will oversee funding and transit services throughout Milwuakee county, including quests for state and federal funding of its services.
• raises car rental fee to $16 for the purpose of funding SERTA and its KRM commuter train implementation;
• additional $1 rental fee available to Belle Urban System, Racine bus service, premised on B.U.S. primary funder, City of Racine, matching with an equal amount in dollars;
• additional $1 rental fee available to Kenosha Area Transit, premised on K.A.T. owner/operator, City of Kenosha, matching with an equal amount in dollars;
• Milwaukee County will have sales tax power, if enacted locally, to fund its RTA up to 0.5 percent on retail sales except categories exempted under longstanding state law. An additional 0.15 percent sales tax may be levied at Milwaukee County option to fund additional local services. Both sales tax levies intend to supplement existing tax revenues and preferably relieve property tax levies.
• establishes uniform appointment power of SERTA board members for all three counties;
• SERTA governed by a board of nine directors, appointed as follows:
  • one by the governor
  • two by mayor of Milwaukee
  • one by mayor of Racine
  • one by mayor of Kenosha
  • two by Milwaukee county board
  • one by Racine county board
  • one by Kenosha county board
• SERTA will receive from each local transit operation, including MTA, BUS and KAT, its long range plans for routes and service;
• SERTA will receive from villages and towns contemplating or starting up separate transit service near Racine and Kenosha their annual and long range plans;
• SERTA may assume management and operation of any transit system in Kenosha or Racine counties that is eligible to receive state mass transit operating assistance, if the municipal governing body votes for SERTA to contract with them for the transit service.

Legislators bat around the RTA ball, KRM just a pop fly ball from being out (June 20) - Unable to adopt the propoosal advanced by Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) for structurinig a regional transit authority or to sustain SEWRPC recommendation for funding with a sales tax, legislators have in the past three weeks reviewed three successive RTA specifications. Each differs from its predeccessor, although the latest by state senators looks more like the hodge podge nailed together by Joint Finance Committee almost two months ago. Intervening was a proposal by Assembly budget crafters which:

• reinstates a tri-county RTA for all transit as SEWRPC proposed, in place of separate Milwaukee bus RTA and KRM commuter train RTA;
• establishes uniform appointment power for all three counties of RTA board members;
• designates the tri-county RTA as sole agent for seeking Federal Transit Administration funds;
• further raises a car rental fee, presently $2, from proposed $16 to $18, applying one dollar each to Racine and Kenosha local bus service support;
• sets several specifications related to KRM commuter trains.

Transit expansion absent from Illinois spending increase, tax and fee hikes enough for 'state of good repair' (May 22) - Emulating the federal government job-creation strategy to spend on construction work and transportation projects, Illinois state senators two days ago passed legislation hiking taxes on alcohol and other fees to fund Chicago-area Pace bus, CTA bus and heavy rail trains, and Metra commuter trains. Northeast Illinois RTA Chairman Jim Reilly told the Daily Herald of Chicago, "It gives us a chance to catch up." One day later, a majority in the General Assembly agreed and sent the measure to Gov. Pat Quinn for sigining into law.
The capital spending bill ends years of indecision in the Illinois state house over equipment and infrastructure spending for transit in the state's most populous, capital-intensive northeastern counties, according to Chicago Tribune, quoting Brian Imus, statewide director of non-profit Illinois Public Interest Research Group. More catch up than expansion, he went to say, "When you look at the problems we're facing, like volatile gas prices and growing traffic congestion, we should be thinking about how to expand the system."

Thirty-eight years without passenger trains have not dimmed quest for resumed service (May 21) - When Chicago and Northwestern Rwy. President Ben Heinemann struck a 1960s deal with commerce regulators to continue passenger trains through Green Bay to the resort counties of northern Wisconsin as far as Ashland, no one imagined the commitment would end with start up of a nationwide passenger train company, Amtrak. But May 1, 1971 marked the final cessation of railroad companies shouldering costs for passenger trains, and C&NW operated its last passenger train from Chicago through Milwaukee, Fond du Lac, Neenah-Menasha, Appleton and Green Bay. A quarter-century later, Amtrak board chairman Tommy Thompson sought revenue boosts for the company's passenger trains and considered a trial extension of one Hiawatha Service train to a field near Fond du Lac; it was a viable plan for adding express freight, but unappealing for passengers and a flawed truncation of a 1994 WisDOT multi-modal agenda titled Translinks 21. Throughout, a yearning for passenger train service has persisted among a hardy core of NE Wisconsin boosters, although a NEWRail chapter of WisARP formally disbanded about four years ago.
In 2009 as President Barack Obama sets in motion expansion of faster trains for people outside the NorthEast Corridor, in accord with his campaign pledge in 2008 and with December, 2007 recommendations of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, persistent quest for passenger trains in the Fox River Valley cities north of Fond du Lac has quickly coalesced into organized effort. One posted message informally described a crowd for the March organizational meeting at Green Bay and announces a Wednesday, May 27, public meeting at Appleton Public Library. Click here for meeting details posted on the NEWRails site. As many as 800 persons have indicated support for the fledgling group's goal of restoring passenger trains on a Wisconsin route that survived longest in pre-Amtrak years.

Amtrak Hiawathas resuming ridership gains (May 14) - March each year typically sees Hiawathas carrying more passengers than during two preceding winter months, but monthly totals tumbled sharply after peaking last August, at a record 78,600, as spending and travel shrank during the financial crisis. Now gains are resuming, based on March data released recently showing the current March, 2009 total of 55,777 Amtrak Hiawatha passengers surpasses every previous March total except in 2008. For the first three months of 2009, ridership totals lag last year's first quarter by just 3.2 percent.
Gasoline prices spiked during summer, 2008, and have climbed 25 percent above US$2 since late March. Spiking prices pushed 2008 ridership during the first eight months (Aug) past the full-year total for 2007.
Among three Wisconsin stations for Amtrak Hiawathas, Sturtevant held just above 2008 ridership and avoided a March decline of 10 percent or more, comparing year for year. Hiawatha passengers at Chicago Union Station totaled more than 11 percent fewer than March, 2008, as did Milwaukee stations.

Midwest fast trains will be most cost-effective, Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman declares (May 12) - During testimony to the Illinois House Railroad Industry Committee at a Chicago hearing, Chicago Tribune quoted Amtrak CEO and President Joe Boardman scrutinizing how to extract the greatest benefits for energy-saving, less air polluting travel. "It's really not about the [maximum] speed. It's about reduced travel times and more frequency", he told legislators.
The Chicago Hub array of routes, to nine Midwest states when fully constructed years from now, will rely on diesel-powered trains peaking at 110-mph, well below the 180 miles per hour maximum speed attained routinely by European and Asian high speed trains, like French TGV and German InterCity Express. Several crucial features of "high speed" trains elsewhere require more passenger usage than predicted for Chicago Hub fast train routes, including:

• overhead, high-voltage wire in place of diesel fuel to propel trains;
• complete absence of intersecting train and road traffic, typically described as "grade separation," meaning bridges built to carry track or road above the intersecting road or track;
• raised passenger platforms facilitating stepping on/off a standing train, and parallel track for trains passing through at high speed which do not stop.

SE Wisc. RTA reshaped, Fox Cities RTA erased, Dane county RTA intact (May 1) - Fifteen years after Racine Mayor Owen Davies began hosting informal meetings on Saturday morning to test area interest in restoring train commuting through Racine, a trio of proposed regional transit authorities (RTAs) proposed earlier in 2009 by Gov. Jim Doyle were dealt separate fates by sixteen budget-writing legislators. The Joint Committee on Finance crafts the state's biennial budget after conducting public hearings, as they did in Racine and five other locations during March. On April 30, they were to begin formal action on the differing proposals for three RTAs recommended by Gov. Doyle amid conflicting priorities among mutiple SE Wisconsin factions, weak support outside Appleton among Fox River and Lake Winnebago cities, and notable unity among sometimes fractious Dane county groups.
SE Wisconsin ambitions for a RTA encompassing multiple transit modes linking three populous cities and their suburbs suffered again, this time in large part due to differences lingering from mid-1990s imposition of a one-tenth cent sales tax to pay for replacing Milwaukee County Stadium on a land parcel near it. Significant differences between use for sales taxes now and then were overshadowed by insistent reminders of the unpopular one-tenth cent tax by a small band opposed to countywide transit in Racine county. A Milwaukee county advisory referendum six months ago cleared doubts about imposing a sales tax there, in contrast to Racine county which was split at request of County Executive William McReynolds six days after the Milwaukee referendum, excluding his county's western two-thirds from any RTA consideration. Kenosha business, labor and environmental groups all supported Gov. Doyle's initial multi-mode, half-cent sales tax proposal, as Racine city groups also offered broadly based support. The committee's 11:00 a.m. Thursday start was delayed ten hours when Racine Journal Times reported Rep. Cory Mason, a JFC member, holding out hope that Gov. Doyle's proposal might endure. Eventually, Joint Finance Comm. directed early today, Associated Press reports, a one-cent sales tax for Milwaukee county and sharply hiked car rental tax funding KRM commuter trains to start up service initially explored in 1994, and a variant as early as 1979 when Rep. Les Aspin invited successful Chicago & Northwestern Rwy. to consider extension.
City of Appleton sought allies to strengthen funding for its bus service, but the same Associated Press account advises Republicans declined support for all RTA proposals. Green Bay and Ripon are represented on Joint Finance Comm., but not Appleton.
Dane county has mulled several transit expansion options in recent years, and gradually achieved consensus on commuter trains, but not light rail, to interchange commuters and visitors with a robust Metro Bus operation. As the state's largest land area county, Dane county and the responsble MPO coincide, easing decision-making and planning.

Governor Jim Doyle delivers transit funds to Racine, Kenosha (Apr. 22) - Amid dwindling household incomes, an upswing in transit availability and preservation of existing services could not arrive at a better time. And Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle arrived with more than $2 million of federal stimulus money in hand for the transit service of Racine, adding a flourish with stated support for the Regional Transit Authority provision now before the legislators. "Wisconsin would finally join the modern world and have a regional transit authority" if his budget proposal passes Legislature muster, Racine Journal Times reported. Racine has suffered above-average unemployment for years and its business, labor and environmental groups all consistently support improved transit, including KRM commuter trains, as a necessary step toward shrinking the number of unemployed residents, many of them homeowners.
Gov. Doyle also presented more than $2 million in stimulus funds to Kenosha Area Transit, Kenosha News reported. "We have to make sure we’re focused on getting people back to work and investing in projects with long-term value."
Gov. Doyle proposed to the Legislature a RTA for Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee which would fund its services and capital investment with a county-by-county sales tax not exceeding 5-cents on a ten dollar purchase (0.5 %), with the customary Wisconsin exclusions for vital needs, like groceries.

Fast trains on Chicago Hub route array promoted by Midwest governors (Apr. 17) - Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin has sights set on connecting Madison to Milwaukee with fast trains by extending existing Amtrak Hiawatha Service to the state's capital city. A first segment of a larger plan to connect across the state to the Mississippi River at La Crosse, then beyond in Minnesota to its most populous Twin Cities, St. Paul and Minneapolis. Governor Tim Pawlenty concurs to an extent, directing his administration to develop a statewide priority list for train service. The existing proposal, first unveiled in the 1990s as one branch of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative and currently named the Chicago Hub system, has no provision for populous Rochester 90 miles south of the Twin Cities nor for the Northern Lights Express passenger route, the 150-mile Minneapolis-Duluth track formerly served by Amtrak. Two Minnesota mayors and a state representative spoke to a Wisconsin Assoc'n of Rail Passengers (WisARP) semi-annual gathering late in March about enthusiasm in Winona, Hastings and Rochester for more trains serving their cities; more than none in the latter two.
Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois has sights set on fast trains in several directions across his state, including eager quest by Rockford for resumption of trains ended 28 years ago by Amtrak due to slow track conditions. Budding commuter train ambitions for Rockford-Belvidere-Elgin-West Chicago-Chicago are reinforced by the longer route west through Galena to Dubuque, Iowa formerly served by Amtrak. East of Rockford, a substitute route, considerably quicker than the past route, via Union Pacific (an original Chicago & Northwestern Rwy. track rooted in its 1848 origins) promises to consolidate upgrade expenditure on a single shared route. Probable maximum speed for the Dubuque-Chicago trains will match intentions for eventual Wisconsin plans north of Milwaukee to Green Bay, up to 79 mph.
Gov. Quinn finds his state most ready to raise speed along the most-traveled Amtrak route in Illinois, Chicago-Bloomington-Springfield-St. Louis. IllDOT has participated in upgrades of various modest kinds over most of the past ten years, consistent with mid-1990s plans for faster trains on several Midwest Amtrak routes. Experimental safety warnings and protection for motorists approaching grade crossings are among a range of improvements installed at Illinois locations, some permanently, some on a trial basis. Most essential for 110-mph speeds, portions of the historic rail route, the track itself and trains running on them have become far more capable than when Amtrak began operations in 1971 on that Gulf, Mobile & Ohio RR trackage, now owned by Union Pacific after years under Illinois Central Gulf RR ownership.
State of Michigan is the single Midwest state already operating a segment of track at 110-mph for routine use by Amtrak, and continues at the forefront seeking expansion of its test section of fast tracks. State of Indiana has stepped up with a bid for inclusion in any 110-mph train service, boosted in part by its suburban Indianapolis car repair and rebuilding shop, under Amtrak management.

President Obama, Vice President Biden and US DOT Sec. Ray LaHood unveil "Vision for High-Speed Rail in America" (April 17) - President Obama less than three months after taking office formally proposed implementation of the $8 billion train travel investment set forth in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act flanked by Vice President Biden and Sec. of Transportation Ray LaHood. Excerpts from their remarks follow, as posted at the White House site.

Vice President Joe Biden: “It’s about time we took those railways and made them the national treasures they should be…I want to say particular thanks to three people. And the first is Secretary LaHood for his leadership and vision. He jumped right into this job and he didn’t miss a step…And this is very uncharacteristic of me, Mr. President, but I want to thank Rahm Emanuel. (Laughter.) Not only as smart as a devil…it was Rahm’s tenacious, tenacious persistence that led to getting this high-speed rail in the Recovery Act. It was at your direction, but I’m not sure it would have been done without him. And third, to the man who…has turned the years of talk in Washington into a season of action, President Barack Obama.”

President Barack Obama: "I've been speaking a lot lately about what we're doing to break free of our economic crisis to put people back to work and move this nation from recession to recovery. And one area in which we can make investments with impact both immediate and lasting is in America's infrastructure. ... And that's why the Recovery and Reinvestment Plan we passed not two months ago included the most sweeping investment in our infrastructure since President Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s.
"But if we want to move from recovery to prosperity, then we have to do a little bit more. We also have to build a new foundation for our future growth. Today, our aging system of highways and byways, air routes and rail lines is hindering that growth. ... What we need, then, is a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st century. A system that reduces travel times and increases mobility. A system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity. A system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs.
"What we're talking about is a vision for high-speed rail in America."

Saved at last; Sturtevant turret depot saved at last (Apr. 4) - Sixteen years after village trustees of Sturtevant agreed to lease the building so volunteer work by a handful of devotees might renovate it, the historic old station will "likely" move before CP Rail clears the site for a new building, Racine Journal Times reports. Locating sufficient funds to accomplish the sectioning and transport the 1902 building stymied several attempts more recently to spare it from demoliiton, and Journal Times reports Caledonia Historical Society has now enough pledged money to proceed. A contractor has been selected, and a suitable new location identified.
The present location originally overlooked the intersection of two important Milwaukee Road main lines, thus the turret affording a clear view along the east-west and north-south tracks for the signal operator controlling use of the intersection, a 'crossing.' Local history buffs believe it may be the only Milwaukee Road station constructed with a turret, differing from the more typical bay for viewing both directions along adjacent tracks. Long after the 'diamond' of intersecting rails was removed, a CTC operator remained on duty there 24 / 7 to handle operations on the busy, super-fast Chicago and Milwaukee subdivision main tracks and delivering written train order instructions to trains destined west to Union Grove and Beloit, to trains returning east to Racine and its many industrial shippers. Eventually, newer communication and signal control technologies made that set of tasks obsolete, and the turret room became part of indoor shelter for waiting Amtrak Hiawatha passengers. Soo Line, preceding owner of the property, in 1992 notified local officials of its intent to raze the neglected wood building, leading a hardy band of volunteers to attempt renovation. By 1995 their efforts were proving insufficient and Amtrak passengers were increasingly unsettled by indoor conditons. In 1998, Gov. Tommy Thompson pledged his support for replacing the old station, a quest which wended through eight years as parking limitations became more critical and eliminating pedestrains walking across tracks as freight and non-stop Amtrak trains approached, worrying everyone but themselves. Amtrak Hiawathas have not stopped there since August, 2006.
CP Rail announced early in 2009 that it intends to clear the site after June 1, and the goal for historic preservationists is to accomplish the relocation or finagle another delay beyond that apparently final deadline. Village of Sturtevant formally honored the old depot since 2001 with its silhouette adorning official village signs at its boundaries on all major streets.

Budget writers hear many appeals for RTA and funding it (Mar. 31) - Sixteen Wisconsin legislators designated to craft needed improvements to Gov. Jim Doyle's 2009-11 biennial budget proposal heard more calls for approving the Regional Transit Authority budget item than any other issue yesterday at Racine's J.I. Case High School.
Minutes after convening, the committee and area legislators in attendance heard Racine Mayor Tom Freidel's welcome, followed by his first mention of need for KRM trains and the RTA., quoted by WRJN local radio: "A fully functional regional transit authority, complete with commuter rail, is necessary to stimulate the economy and create jobs in this region." Next, a delegation of Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce (RAMAC) comprised of four CEOs for international companies based in Racine reiterated their strong endorsement of the RTA item in Doyle's budget proposal. "We've never seen so much business support," Rep. Peter Barca told Kenosha News. During the next several hours of public comments on a variety of budget issues, support for creating the RTA permanently surfaced again and again. An estimated 20 speakers, from the sheet metal union business agent to train fan John Kelley McGee, spoke in clear endorsement for keeping the item in the budget.
Three Racine area legislators serve with thirteen colleagues on Joint Committee on Finance, so Journal Times featured the tax protestors camped at the entryway to Case high school Monday. Two speakers testified against taxes generally, and another one addressed the sales tax after speaking on an unrelated principal issue. Non-specific grousing against taxes is fashionable in the area, where high unemploymnet has persisted for years.

Just say 'No' to transit, Burlington and Sturtevant declare (Mar. 18) - "Officials on the west end of the county don't like the idea of a Regional Transit Authority, even if their communities aren't included in the plan being floated as part of Gov. Jim Doyle s budget proposal," Racine Jounral Times reported. The interim RTA board heard at its pivotal November 10 session that Burlington might grow enough to consider modest bus service within the next five years. Howevver, its elected officals unanimously closed the door to any hints of it after hearing a presentation at their March 18 regular city council meeting. The western two-thirds of Racine county was removed from RTA consideration at the Nov. 10 RTA board meeting at insistence of County Executive William Reynolds.

Racine city unanimous for RTA and its KRM trains, county board less clear cut (March 4) - City of Racine alderpersons didn't shy away from expert recommendations supporting a regional transit authority despite a sporadic flurry of no-tax objections when they voted on a resolution introduced by Common Council President David Maack last night. Racine Journal Times reports council opinion reflected confidence that KRM commuter trains will "foster development and connect Racine to economic growth."
One week earlier, Racine County Board met one-half mile west of the demarcation set in November to delineate the non-RTA geography of the county, and split narrowly in favor of the RTA in an equivocal resolution, 13-10. Racine Journal Times reported several limiting conditions listed in the resolution which had not previously been asserted to any RTA board meeting.
The RTA for Southeastern Wisconsin was established in 2005 by the Legislature, which has since shifted its majority to the other party, and the RTA board met periodically throughout 2006 to evaluate accumulated experience elsewhere in the nation before recommending in November, 2006 that a sales tax levied at no more than one-half of one percent (5¢ on $10) take over underwriting of transit from property taxes levied in varying amounts. Over the subsequent 27 months a succession of unvetted alternatives and preconditions have emerged.

Faster train travel likely in next four years (Feb. 22) - Weekend news discloses major gains for funding 110 mph train travel in several corridors nationwide, and Associated Press writer Jim Abrams ranks ambitions for the Midwest Regional Rail System (MWRRS) highly. An initiative touted to WisARP at a Racine semi-annual gathering in 1999 and crafted three years earlier after detailed study by engineering professionals working for US railroads at that time, the ambitions for fast diesel-powered passenger trains have languished as states increased their funding match to federal dollars simply to maintain service by Amtrak.
Associated Press notes that six areas nationwide are eager for more passenger trains operating faster than preaviling 79 mph maximum everywhere, except the Northeast Corridor, Washington DC-New York CIty-Boston. Those areas are the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, Florida, the South, California and California-Nevada. That last route has been targeted by critics of trains as a "Sin Express", singling out one route intending to tarnish all. Last Thursday (Feb. 19), newly installed US DOT Sec. Ray LaHood said faster train travel in selected corridors, such as the MWRR Initiative proposes, are "certainly at the top of [President Obama's] list" of infrasturcture projects. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress and signed promptly by President Obama commits $48 billion to US DOT projects, more on highways than any other mode of transportaton.

Most people attending Kenosha Expo favor KRM, and permanent RTA (Feb. 21) - During the six hours of Kenosha Expo's first day, KRM trains drew warm, sometimes impatient support among most visitors to the TransitNOW booth. Some of the fifty-plus area people stopping to talk spontaneously voiced surprise that the long-sought proposal had yet to advance to the construction phase. Some recalled the "North Shore" interurban trains which halted Milwaukee-Chicago hourly service in 1963, 46 years ago this month. And a handful stopped to ask narrow questions about cost, while rejecting any replies by three KRM advocates who expanded answers to embrace job access gains, property tax relief, proven household income gains elsewhere. (For example, see Scott Bernstein presentation three weeks ago and Eugene Skoropowski description three years ago of revived prosperity in a former factory city much like Racine.) During public comment sessions during the period formulating the KRM proposal, circa 2000-2005, favorable comment was at least as one-sided as the first day at Kenosha Expo, during one comment cycle amounting to more than 1,000 supportive comments versus 20 criticisms.
RTA Board Chairman Karl Ostby wrote in similarly glowing terms of goals for the trio of counties in a Sunday op-ed published by Kenosha News.

Racine and Milwaukee persist in going their own ways (Feb. 12) - Two years after the RTA board recommended a sales tax to pay regional transit expenses, Milwaukee county board pushed through an advisory referendum narrowly approved by voters for a sales tax twice as large (see Dec. 4, 2008 item). Three months later, early in February, Milwaukee county supervisors voted 13-5 to propose a RTA comprised of five Milwaukeeans among nine RTA board members instead of the current county-city pair for Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha plus an appointee by the governor. A Journal Sentinel editorial lauds the step forward to agreeing an RTA will benefit Milwaukee without assessing the unilateral conditions attached.
Racine county board met five days later and deferred action on a RTA resolution, Racine Journal Times reported. As proposed, then deferred, the county board would favor an elected board directly responsible to voters rather than appointees by mayor and county executive, which made the heads of city and county government responsible since 2005. The reported resolution takes no position on levying a tax, instead predicating the voter role on any taxing authority the RTA might acquire from the state.
In Kenosha county, the county board adopted a resolution endorsing the RTA Board recommendations sent to Madison in November. Kenosha County Central Labor Council (AFL-CIO) also voted support for an RTA and for transit funded by a sales tax not exceeding one-half of one percent (0.05%).
Primary proponent for KRM, TransitNOW, lists supporters for the commuter train facet and for a RTA at its dedicated page for endorsers.

Commuter trains nurture better neighborhoods, expert tells Oak Creek gathering (Jan. 30) - As new proponents for KRM commuter trains are sought to further expand its support, the president of Center for Neighborhood Technology addressed a Friday morning gathering of business and community leaders sprinkled with elected officials from communities south of Milwuakee. "Investing in public transit is a desirable alternative to the so-called 'drive-till-you-qualify' real estate market, (according to) a national expert in urban development," Kenosha News reported. It quoted Scott Bernsein advising further, "History shows that if you don’t pay attention to what the economic benefits are, you won’t have a sustained effort."

Train travel in recovery spotlight (Jan 28) - Wednesday evening Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle capped a spate of advances for expanding train travel and commuting during his State of the State address to legislators and broadcast widely by Internet stream, television, and radio. Citing areas for long term investment to promote statewide economic vitality, Gov. Doyle said, "We can improve our electrical grid, broaden our internet lines and build rail lines. We will become more competitive and efficient in the long run and put people to work today."
On January 22 Gov. Doyle was more descriptive in testimony to the House of Representatives responsible committee. Lauding the House majority, Gov. Doyle told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee he is "pleased [that] the draft Appropriations Committee bill provides an additional $1.1 billion for passenger rail – $800 million for Amtrak and $300 million for state investments." T & I Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar has consistently sought greater investment and more cost-effective investment since assuming chairman duties in 2007.
Governor Doyle in his prepared remarks to the committee said further:

"Funding for passenger rail, but for Amtrak, has been substantially lacking in the federal transportation budget for decades. Since the 1940s, this country has disinvested in passenger rail while countries in Europe and Asia have made passenger rail the centerpiece of their transportation systems.
"... States have long believed that passenger rail is the missing link in our national transportation policy. Wisconsin has been a leading advocate in this national dialogue, even when those who believed that passenger rail could be a funded priority by the federal government were few and far between. In the mid-1990s, a nine-state group in the Midwest developed the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative, a plan for state-supported passenger rail service in the Midwest. This coalition recently received a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) grant to further refine the Midwest Regional Rail Coalition’s planning and environmental work, which will allow the states in the corridor to develop their projects for construction.
"The States for Passenger Rail Coalition was formed in 2000. Its membership has grown to include 31 states and two authorities. Fourteen states support rail corridor services with their state funds, including Wisconsin. At least 35 states are developing plans for expansion of services or new services. States have funded many intercity passenger rail corridor improvement projects, providing track and signal improvements, grade crossing improvements, stations and operating equipment.
" ... a number of national organizations have recently outlined passenger rail needs for the nation. unlike the highway and transit systems, US DOT does not provide conditions and performance reports for the nation's passenger rail network; this should change and change soon. Amtrak has estimated the needs of the Amtrak system, and over the past decade, the states have recognized the value of passenger rail in addressing their mobility issues and have begun to implement service."

Governor Doyle spoke with the insights gained by Wisconsin DOT Sec. Frank Busalacchi while serving on the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, 2005-07, which recommended in its majority report to Congress that train travel and commuting should regain federal support, as other advanced nations invested during 50-plus years while America placed its transportation infrastructure dollars in air and highway travel.

RTA study statewide handed to experienced legislator (Jan. 21) - Wisconsin legislators rely on an affiliated non-partisan agency to develop parameters for eventual legislation, and in 2008 the Legislative Council undertook studying how statutory language could define a course for municipalities to form a regional transit authority. Presently, the Legislature must draft and pass in Assembly and Senate a bill creating a RTA. Only one RTA statute has been enacted, in 2005, to establish the tri-county RTA encompassing Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties. The state's most swidely read nespaper, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, was one of several news outlets reporting the study panel's new chair, Senator Judy Robson (D-Beloit). She led a Rock county attempt at the start of this decade to extend northeast Illinois Metra service closer to the neighbor cities of Janesville and Beloit, and served more recently as minority leader. Last month, Sen. Robson spoke out differing with the previous Leg. Council chairman of the RTA special committee, reported by Wisconsin State Journal announcing his intention to suspend consideration of proposals as his party became the minority in the Assembly and he relinquished his chairmanship.

KRM commuter trains not frozen out (Jan.18) - As Midwest temperatures plunged to mid-January depths not experienced in years (with wind chill pushing - 18 F near - 40 F), sunny predictions for the tri-county region once transit and KRM trains co-ordinate were met with glum doubts by a Californian citing his own review, which Journal Times reports boiled down to pursuing more study.
SEWRPC and a former transit financial officer in southern California differed in the extent of Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee study, the merits of bus-only transit, and the need for further inaction. SEWRPC presented its recommendations several years ago which led in 2005 to Legislature creation of a tri-county RTA. Thomas Rubin, now based with Reason Foundation, a non-profit organization, might have accomplished his study under RTA auspices, but that expense was blocked in June, 2008 by the RTA board. Mister Rubin gathered his findings nonetheless and spent the week of January 12-16 speaking in snow-covered Wisconsin to radio shows, community groups, and to Racine county board, which Journal Times reported. Doubts he raised about SEWRPC study methodologies were countered by recitation of its reliance on widely used, proven predictive models and evaluation of a bus-only alternate to commuter train service.
Inaction has been the most familiar result of past transit proposals, a Journal Sentinel story reported two week earlier. A US DOT fund resource was handed to Milwaukee by Congress seventeen years ago "for a Milwaukee-area public transit project," Journal Sentinel said. Several projects have been undertaken, but no encompassing use for the original funding was ever designated, and the remainder is locked in a policy impasse separate from the tri-county RTA debate.

President-elect Obama hears from passenger train boosters (Dec. 30) - Change is coming, in three weeks the Obama-Biden transition team pledges as a host of concerns circle and squawk for immediate attention. For discouraged homeowners and ill Americans unable to afford health insurance, those concerns are imperative needs.
For commuters and travelers, for energy savers and environmental watch dogs among the million-plus site visitors to change.gov in its first 24 hours soliciting Round Two questions, the foremost concern is whether or not transit and intercity rail projects will command the funding necessary for expansion. Currently, all other G-7 nations rely more on trains than the USA for commuters and travel distances too short for cost-effective air travel. The Obama-Biden campaign repeatedly assured voters that, if elected, it would bring better balance among bus, car, plane and train 'modes' for commuting and travel. Almost two months after Election Day and only 21 days until Inauguration, all indications are that voters will see fulfillment on that campaign pledge.
Reinforcing the nation's readiness for modern, 21st century transportation, a letter sent jointly by Amtrak, the States for Passenger Rail Coalition, Surface Transportation Policy Project, AASHTO's Standing Committee on Rail Transportation, Association of American Railroads, Natural Resources Defense Council, Railway Supply Institute, and American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association to President-elect Obama urges freight rail support in any economic stimulus and recovery proposal to Congress. The letter is reported by Progressive Railroading magazine.

Milwaukee county board committee sides with county executive, doubts RTA recommendations (Dec. 4, updated Dec. 26) - The face-off about transit for Milwaukee county took a turn when Milwaukee County Board's transportation committee voted 6-1 to oppose Nov. 10 recommendations adopted by the seven member SE Wisconsin RTA Board, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel news story. County Supv. Lee Holloway wrote soon after the Nov. 10 RTA board meeting (see previous KenRail item) that he rejected the RTA "carpetbagging" for a sales tax which he and a two-thirds majority of county supervisors submitted to voters in a Nov. 4 advisory referendum. County Executive Scott Walker also has resisted the RTA and also vetoed the supervisors' initial effort to place the sales tax referndum on the ballot; they overrode his veto, 13-6, in early September to place the question on the November ballot.
County Executive Walker pressed his argument against the referendum to the last, declaring late in October that voters should not expect property tax relief to the extent promised by sales tax supporters, Journal Sentinel reported. "The facts show just the opposite." Voters endorsed the Nov. 4 question, 51-49 percent, carried by city of Milwaukee voters and only two suburbs. After the result was tallied, Mr. Walker again held his stance against a sales tax, saying voters were confused by the question.
Ten days later, Mr. Walker's RTA Board representative, George Torres, listed in a Journal Sentinel commentary his points of objection to the RTA and its stated goals. He wrote those were his reasons for casting the only negative RTA vote on Nov. 10. Chairman Holloway expounded further two weeks later in a Journal Sentinel op-ed which asserted different motives for opposing the RTA and its recommendations. He asserted the RTA was needlessly sapping funds badly needed for local transit. Racine and Kenosha should decide independently, Chairman Holloway continued, offering unexpectedly to contract with Racine and Kenosha to operate their bus systems as part of Milwaukee County Transit System. Then Chairman Holloway wrote:

The RTA currently is acting as a "middleman" saddled by administrative costs. Making both our existing bus system and the proposed Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line draw from a potential RTA sales tax pits them against each other. The KRM, which would be much more expensive than regular buses, would siphon funds away from existing mass transit, which desperately needs new funding. I would support a legislative package that funds the RTA and KRM through other means while providing Milwaukee County a sales tax consistent with the results of our referendum. Milwaukee County cannot afford to be held hostage while funding for the KRM line is debated.

Comment to KenRail by e-mailing comments, complaints, or plaudits to kenrail@excite.com

News recap for 2006 | 2007 | 2008 (Jan-Nov)

Kenosha and Racine counties have both Metra commuter trains and Amtrak intercity trains operating daily in our KenRail area. == Amtrak Hiawatha Service schedules, click here for Sturtevant/Racine == Metra/Union Pacific Northline schedules, click here for Kenosha Presently, no scheduled bus service links these two train routes. Bus service connects at each train station, and taxis await most Metra arrivals at Kenosha. Historic PCC streetcars also pass Kenosha's Metra station.
Click on photo for more about Kenosha or Sturtevant station Photos loaned to KenRail by Norman Siler, webmaster
Kenosha station for Metra trains originates nine weekday trains, 5:50 AM to 11:35 PM. Nine trains arrive Monday-Friday between 2:15 AM and 11:15 PM. Saturday, Sunday and holidays schedule fewer trains. Contact Metra via this link or by phone at 1-312/322-6777. Kenosha Transit buses connect at the Joseph McCarthy Transit Center, four blocks east of the Metra station (5414 13th Ave.), and buses pass the station near train times during the day. Historic PCC streetcars circulate Monday-Friday, 11:05 a.m. to 7:05 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, 10:05 AM to 5:35 PM. Check Kenosha Transit schedules online or by phone, 262/653-4BUS (653-4287) Wisconsin Coach buses link Kenosha to Racine and downtown Milwaukee via State Hwy 32 and Mitchell Int'l Aiport (MKE). Visit Wisconsin Coach website or call 1-800-236-2015 for schedule, fare and route details.		Sturtevant has seven northward and seven southward Amtrak Hiawatha Service trains, Monday-Saturday, operating between Milwaukee and Chicago; six in each direction on Sunday and legal holidays. Contact Amtrak via this link or by phone at 1-800/USA-RAIL (800/872-7245). The new Sturtevant station has changed B.U.S. connections at its Renaissance Business Park location, 9900 E. Exploration Court. Contact B.U.S. for Routes 20 & 27 details and connection with all B.U.S. routes at a transfer center adjoining Racine's train station, at 1421 State Street. It will serve lakeshore commuters when K-R-M trains begin operation. Contact the BUS online or by phone at 262-637-9000. Wisconsin Coach connects to Kenosha and Metra, to Mitchell Int'l Airport and Milwaukee. Call 800-236-2015 or visit its website for routes, fares and schedules.

Click here for linking to Wisconsin public transit referrals by APTA, the American Public Transit Association, at its listing for all seeking to escape high gas prices by switching to public transit.

Racine bus center adjoins K-R-M track - Belle Urban System buses collect at a new transit hub for local and regional buses, an intermodal adjunct to planned Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter trains. Check our page about the B.U.S. hub and adjoining station, a busy C&NW passenger palace, 1902-1971, and planned KRM station via this link.

Editorials support K-R-M commuter train proposal, polls favor all trains - Area newspaper editorials have consistently supported Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter trains. Random polls of public opinion also consistently show trains are popular alternativees to driving and flying over moderate distances. Read more about public opinion polls and those editorial endorsements at this page.

A commuter rail feasibility study in 1998 by SE Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission concluded that a 33-mile Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee corridor near Lake Michigan, somewhat distant from Interstate 94, could benefit from improved north-south public travel infrastructure. To inform interested commentators about differences among various modes, or types, of rail operations used for travel, SEWRPC accompanied its 1998 study summary with a brief definition of several modes and a table of salient rail mode traits. Want to learn more about that landmark Wisconsin study? Contact us with an e-mail to KenRail.

WISERIDE - Wisconsin DOT and the seven county planning commission for SE Wisconsin have closely examined prospects for adding commuter train service for lakeshore communities. A detailed planning study commissioned by SE Wisc. RPC and WisDOT is complete; has been presented at public hearings, where comment was overwhelmingly favorable, by business groups, by environmental advocates, by workday commuters seeking a better way to and from jobs; and is now published as the SEWRPC final recommendation to WisDOT and affected communities and local governments in the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee corridor. Its "SEWRPC Community Assistance Planning Report No. 276" is referenced at the WISERIDE website. Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin also endorses commuter trains for southeast Wisconsin and for the Madison area, in its Issue Paper #6 available for download.
Uncertainty about how to fund K-R-M has been a constant, but not prominent, issue among many that SEWRPC dealt with in the course of the WISRIDE study. In 2000, a Kenosha News columnist broached the prospect of using a local tax for K-R-M commuter trains, as was enacted to fund Miller Park. KenRail webmaster Norman Siler replied in an opinion column published by Kenosha News in October, 2000, and it's posted here.

Presidents Conference Car streetcars once trundled urban thoroughfares throughout USA and overseas. Kenosha Transit operates one of five classic PCCs along a two-mile 'circulator' system through Harborpark and downtown, past the new Kenosha Public Museum, McCarthy Transit Center and Metra station. They are a popular attraction at 25¢ per ride for day-trippers, for youngsters and grandparents alike, as well as practical for Harborpark residents and museum visitors. Their busiest day of 2002 is depicted in these scenes from the Harborpark district, on July Fourth as evening approached and fireworks were imminent, via this link.
Visit the Kenosha Transit website for more specifics, including hours of operation.

Smart choices, less traffic - Sierra Club has recommended on its national agenda the K-R-M commuter train proposal. Its website urges extension of Metra-type train service along the lakeshore corridor which will “serve more than 5,000 daily riders and connect the densely populated, rapidly developing communities along the Wisconsin lakefront between Kenosha and Milwaukee.” View its three Wisconsin recommendations by clicking on our state at this Sierra Club web page.

Midwest high speed rail - Tracks converging on Chicago make it the logical hub for a Midwest regional array of 110-mph trains. Wisconsin DOT has led often among the Midwest states striving for equivalent train service to the NorthEast Corridor and to Caltrans HSR ambitions. A WisDOT web page highlights the latest Midwest achievements in the first phase, a Milwaukee-Madison segment for 110-mph trains.
National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) and its Illinois affiliate (IllARP) hosted a March 20, 2004 session featuring speakers assembled by Midwest High Speed Rail Association (MWHSRA). Throughout the day they dealt with urban, commuter (suburban) and intercity rail improvements -- limitations on them, and need for more improvements. Former Milwaukee mayor John Norquist and current president of Congress for New Urbanism, emphasized the interplay among several key facets of urban and metropolitan growth with transportation, and continued the day's theme: the vital role trains take in the blend of modes which together offer "seamless" travel in most G-7 nations. More complete coverage of the MWHSRA presentations starts from here.
A follow on session of MWHSRA on Feb. 25, 2006 will persist in support for upgraded Midwest train service linking major cities. Visit the meeting page for details about the $35 Saturday event.

Fast trains crisscrossed Wisconsin more than sixty years ago. Read about the competition among three railroads and the fastest of them all, Milwaukee Road, as background to today's quest for a Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison-La Crosse-Twin Cities route for 110 mph trains linking to other corridors of the Midwest Regional Rail System (MWRRS). Then visit Wisconsin Department of Transportation website about its MWRRS efforts.

©2009 KenRail for all material, except as attributed otherwise.

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