University of Wisconsin / WisDOT Study on Publicly subsidized freight rail (WSOR customer base)

[CMStPnP]

Interesting survey and interesting comments from customers that use rail to ship and recieve goods.    One of the most interesting conclusions towards the end of the survey is that some customers because they are indirect customers of rail have no clue that the loss of rail freight would negatively impact their business.

Also, interesting the annual monetary benefits of the state subsidizing WSOR are given and I thought were much higher than I expected.     Below is the link to the study.

http://www.aae.wisc.edu/pubs/misc/docs/deller.railroad.01.13.pdf

 

[rluke]

That's a lot of reading-  but very interesting.

[schlimm]

CMStPnP

Also, interesting the annual monetary benefits of the state subsidizing WSOR are given and I thought were much higher than I expected.    

Where is that in the study?  It would be interesting to see the ROI/ROS for that.

[CMStPnP]

schlimm

Where is that in the study?  It would be interesting to see the ROI/ROS for that.

Last paragraph of page 17.   I thought PORS was the state subsidized WSOR by itself.   They have impact and multipliers but no ROI that I can see but you could probably figure that out by taking the annual subsidy vs. impact.

[schlimm]

Not sure if that would be equivalent, but it does seem to provide a considerable positive economic benefit. My understanding is that WSOR is the operator on a state-owned RoW: "To provide for needed public investment in the state’s railroad system, local Rail Transit Commissions were formed to accommodate public acquisition and rehabilitation of rail lines needed to provide essential freight rail service that would otherwise be abandoned by major Class I railroads."  Although one forum member contends it would be to the contrary nationally, it does not appear that the WI government-owned RoW is being poorly maintained, even though much of it was a mess when acquired.  

[CMStPnP]

Well initially before WSOR established a working relationship with the State of Wisconsin it's right of way was a mess.    After Bill Gardner came on board he used his former highway contractor contacts to explain to the state how important secondary railway lines are.    Before WSOR took over the Waukesha to Prarie Du Chien line which was the first Milwaukee mainline across Wisconsin was largely sunk in the mud with a top speed of 10 mph and rail dating back to around or before the turn of the century, you might have seen one train every other day if you were lucky.    It's now well ballasted and speeds are up to 45-50 mph in places and actually looks like a mainline now for a Class I.   Traffic on the line has increased substantially as well as WSOR has been real active under Bill Gardner at attracting new rail based businesses.

WSOR also operates the line north of Fox Lake, IL to Janesville and then onto Madison as well as the Watertown to Madison line.    Without WSOR these lines would have long ago been bike trails and we would have lost the last rail line between Madison and Chicago (that the 765 just ran over using the former Milwaukee Passenger Train name "The Varsity" that used to use this line).

The state of Wisconsin pays primarily for the rail improvements and maintenence with a small in kind contribution from WSOR.    WSOR for the most part operates the track and retains what the state and WSOR have agreed is a fair but not excessive return.    Thats the business relationship.    WSOR sets up improvement projects and presents what the return will be to the state and the state either goes along with them or does not.    In almost all cases Bill Gardner had the state's trust and they gave him pretty much carte blanche to do what he wanted.

Then this stupid campaign finance scandal arose where Gardner was caught exceeding the state contributions to the Walker campaign.    Walker campaign had no idea and gave all the money back.   Gardner was 100% cooperative in the investigation as well as pleaded guilty and the state went pretty easy on him.   Never the less he sold the railroad to Watco and then his remaining insterest in the line on his own (Watco said there was no pressure or even a suggestion he should sell all of his share and they look forewards to working with him in the future).    So it seemed everything was patched up in the end but then I believe Bill Gardner died and is no longer with us.

So Watco is attempting to retain the same relationship with Wisconsin Gardner had and it seems so far so good but I will note that WSOR has not expanded since Gardner left beyond a few short line segments.    So we'll see.    I think the partnership has worked out well and as I said the traffic they have added to both CP and CN Rail via interchange has been pretty good.    I think what will eventually happen is the relationship will deteriorate over time but I hope not.    One great thing Gardner accomplished was he got the Governor to change the State Constitution to allow direct subsidy of rail lines.    It was prohibited from doing so based on all the rail scandals that took place in the 1800's, the last being the Milwaukee and La Crosse bankruptcy which screwed over a lot of Wisconsin Farmers that were given stock in the company in exchange for parcels of land.....stock became worthless.

WSOR sold all or most of it's passenger equipment that Gardner used for fantrips and to try to entice the state to allow him to enter the rail passenger business.    It's now owned by Ellis and his Iowa Pacific Group.

Side note thats kind of interesting.   Milwaukee used to have a rail connection between the Brookfield - Waukesha - Prarie Du Chien line and the former "Southwestern" that branched West from Sturtevant.    It branched from Eagle, WI off the Brookfield -Waukesha to Prarie du Chien line and made it's connection with the Southwestern in Elkhorn, WI.  A lot folks don't know about this but you could reach Kansas City from Milwaukee departing to the North via secondary trains.      The line was pulled up around 1933.   The one intermediate stop between Elkhorn and Eagle was called Troy Center if you look on the map and you draw an almost straight north South line south of Eagle you will run into it........street pattern is all grid and it is a small town (layed out by the RR no doubt to sell land plots).      From that town the line curved Southwest at some point to Elkhorn.   Troy Center was the only intermediate town before reaching Elkhorn, WI.      Some day I will take a trip there to see if I can see any RR remnants.