Amtrak.com
There is potential for the city of Madison to join the existing Amtrak route between Milwaukee and Chicago, also known as the Hiawatha route.
It’s been more than a decade since plans to bring high-speed rail to Madison were quashed by then Gov. Scott Walker. But there is new hope that the city might finally get added to the Midwest’s railroad network — this time, for passenger rail.
Jason Ilstrup, president of Downtown Madison Inc., says a series of factors have made rail in Madison possible once again, including earmarked funding in the recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The law contains $102 billion in total rail funding and $43.5 billion of that is dedicated to establishing intercity passenger rail.
Both Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration also highlighted Madison in reports they released last year, noting that the city has potential to join the existing route between Milwaukee and Chicago, also known as the Hiawatha route.
“People are understanding how important it is to have more transportation options in the city of Madison,” Ilstrup says.
The city has not yet formally applied for funding to establish this rail service, but is moving forward with an important first step: identifying where an Amtrak passenger rail station would be in Madison. The city is holding a public meeting on Dec. 7 to discuss rail service and the study it has commissioned to help determine the best location for a station.
Philip Gritzmacher, transportation planner for the city of Madison, says the city set aside $120,000 in its budget for funding this study.
There are six potential locations for the station: near the Dane County Regional Airport; the old Oscar Mayer plant; a section of First Street; the Near East Side neighborhood; downtown; and the UW-Madison campus. These are large, general areas, Gritzmacher says, so once one of these locations are chosen, there will be discussion about where specifically in the vicinity a station could be built.
Gritzmacher says there are a number of perspectives to consider when determining a location, including the ability of the city to acquire the desired land for the station, and input from the public. The city has also been working with Amtrak to discuss viable station sites. The city council will ultimately approve the final proposed location, says Gritzmacher.
cityofmadison.com
Six large areas are being looked at for a railway station: near the Dane County Regional Airport; the old Oscar Mayer plant; First Street; the Near East Side neighborhood; downtown; and the UW-Madison campus.
While plans are currently focused on extending the Hiawatha route into Madison, Gritzmacher says the city also needs to consider what locations would allow Madison to be on Amtrak’s route for the Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago, or TCMC, intercity passenger rail service. The project would add a second daily round-trip passenger train between Chicago and the Twin Cities.
“Whatever we choose in terms of our station location, this is another constraint. We don’t want to rule out TCMC from occurring,” Gritzmacher says.
The city is waiting for the release in December of a Notice of Funding Opportunity, which will provide information about available funding for the project and allow the city to apply to get into the Corridor Identification and Development Program. If accepted into the Corridor ID Program, Madison would receive funding and federal support for project planning and development.
Mayors from Madison, Pewaukee and Watertown all signed a joint letter to the Federal Rail Administration in June to express interest in joining the Corridor ID Program.
“It’s letting the federal government know it’s not just us interested,” Gritzmacher says. “It’s also other communities that’ll be served by the route that are also interested.”
Six months ago, the city roughly estimated that it would cost $500 million to extend the Hiawatha route into Madison, but Gritzmacher says now this estimate is “based on old information.” He says the upcoming Notice of Funding Opportunity will likely “invalidate prior estimates.”
If accepted into the Corridor ID Program, Gritzmacher says the city would receive an estimate for the overall cost of the Hiawatha extension, based on preliminary engineering. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will also release their “Rail Plan 2050” before the end of this year, which will include information about improvements that have been made, or need to be made, for more passenger rail service to be established.
In the meantime, city leaders are largely focused on the ongoing rail station study, which they hope to have completed by May 2023.
Ilstrup says Downtown Madison Inc., whose members include businesses, residents and people who work downtown, would like a passenger rail station to be as close to downtown as possible.
“It’s the political, cultural part of the city where a lot of people work and live,” Ilstrup says. And, he adds, “We want it to be connected to the other current transportation infrastructure that’s in place, so you have seamless connection between our inner city transit system and the larger transit systems to get us around to other cities.”
