UNDATED (WSAU) A new study in Minnesota includes 14 alternatives for running a high-speed rail line from Chicago to the Twin Cities. And even if Wisconsin’s new governor kills the Milwaukee-to-Madison line, the study mentions other possible routes through the Badger State. Federal-and-state dollars paid for the study.
Minnesota’s passenger rail director, Dan Krom, says none of the proposed routes have been ruled out. One would follow Amtrak’s current Empire Builder, which currently has several stops from Milwaukee-to-La Crosse but goes well north of Madison. Walker has said he would be open to that idea – but Congress would have to approve all the facilities on the line to accommodate a much-higher speed to 110-miles-an-hour.
Other options in the Minnesota study would run the high-speed train to Fond du Lac, Neenah, and Stevens Point before heading west to the Gopher State. Or the line could bypass Wisconsin altogether, heading from Chicago through northern Illinois and into Iowa before heading up to Minnesota. But that would be a “nightmare scenario” according to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who lost the governor’s election.
Barrett favored the Milwaukee-to-Madison route. And Cari Anne Renlund of Wisconsin’s D-O-T says it’s the only one which has had the required environmental studies. She said the Minnesota study had to look at all possible options, even though Wisconsin’s current transportation officials are not interested in giving up the Madison stop.
