Tommy Washbush
About 40 years before the start of the second industrial revolution, agriculture began to replace lead mining as one of Wisconsin’s major industries. Demand for wheat and other products in the East provided motivation to connect Wisconsin with the lucrative markets of growing towns and cities across the country. As early as 1836, before Wisconsin was granted statehood, residents in Milwaukee held a public meeting to petition the territorial legislature to incorporate a company to construct a railroad.
Railroads promised a more prosperous Wisconsin, one that could catch up to a national and global economy that favored efficiency and connectivity. Sound familiar?
The golden age of rail, as it’s called, saw Wisconsin’s trade output boom and earned the state its place as the heart of America’s breadbasket. While the golden era tapered off by the end of the 1920s, the desire in Wisconsin to bring back and expand rail has never died.
The recently proposed Amtrak station in Madison is full of potential. With $66 million in funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for Amtrak to improve and expand service, the intercity passenger rail service could connect Madison to such cities as Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Thanks to the Biden administration, Wisconsin Department of Transportation, and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, it seems our magnificent city is on the cusp of its very own golden age.
Reviving passenger rail is not an entirely new concept to Madison — train enthusiasts will remember how close our state got to high speed rail between Madison and Milwaukee before former Gov. Scott Walker killed the option in 2010. But as our city continues to undergo significant population growth and development, the argument for an Amtrak station in our city grows even stronger.
Madison has become a business destination at a time when Wisconsin as a whole is very much in need of economic revitalization and innovation. Better transportation services are a net gain for communities around Wisconsin that are ready to reap the benefits of accessible, bustling city centers and their resources. Passenger rail also helps reduce roadway congestion in major metropolitan regions, and traveling on Amtrak emits up to 83 percent fewer greenhouse gases than driving and up to 73 percent fewer than flying.
Our local economies stand to benefit and so does our planet.
Yet Wisconsin’s Republican leaders still seem set against rail. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu have already said they are opposed to any state spending for the Amtrak project. With control of the state Legislature, their opposition could be a substantial roadblock. According to Mayor Rhodes-Conway, the first round of federal funding for the project does not require a match from the state. However, subsequent rounds require a 10 percent and a 20 percent local match, respectively, for capital costs.
What should be a compelling argument for both Republicans and Democrats is that rail would help Madison and Wisconsin retain the young, talented graduates of our university system. According to data analyzed by the Washington Post, Wisconsin suffers from a brain drain. More than a quarter of Wisconsin college students leave the state once they finish school, with neighboring Minnesota and Illinois welcoming a large chunk of them. These states, unlike Wisconsin, have lured young people by enacting progressive economic and social policies. There is a perceived higher quality of life there because of it.
Curiously, Vos acknowledges the “demographic challenges” Wisconsin faces in his Dec. 30 New Year email, noting a “net migration out of the state and a graying population. We have to find ways to keep more people in Wisconsin.”
If we are to make Wisconsin more competitive in retaining and attracting young professionals, we must have accessible and equitable transportation, and that unquestionably includes passenger rail. A line connecting the UW-Madison campus with dynamic metros like Chicago and Minneapolis would provide increased opportunities to students and position the campus as the Midwest’s intellectual living room; its research and innovation accessible to employers, future students, and job seekers alike.
The benefit of passenger rail is not just limited to Madison and Milwaukee, as Republicans argue. Railroads have historically functioned to bridge the rural/urban divide, and while we are past the time of steam powered locomotives and western expansion, the themes of economic potential and migration that concerned those first Wisconsinites at that 1836 public meeting in Milwaukee persist today.
Graduating UW students would be more likely to return to their hometowns if they could still access the amenities of big cities by train. Likewise, prospective young professionals looking to move in state might opt to settle in less populous areas along the line’s corridor if transportation were easily accessible.
In a joint letter advocating for the extension of passenger rail service from Milwaukee to Madison, the cities of Madison, Watertown and Pewaukee expressed excitement for “the benefits that passenger rail will bring to our communities and the residents of Dane, Jefferson, Dodge, and Waukesha Counties.”
Every community in Wisconsin deserves to be a contender for investment, not just major cities. And one of the best ways to do that is to make them better places to live. We will continue to lose out if they remain underfunded, under-resourced, and disconnected.
With Amtrak connections to Madison, our city and Wisconsin as a whole will be better positioned for a future of economic and social prosperity. Transportation is a necessity and any investment that modernizes our systems and seeks to make them equitable is an opportunity to take and celebrate.
Madison’s golden age is upon us.
Nada Elmikashfi is chief of staff to state Rep. Francesca Hong and a former candidate for state Senate.
