Madison, WI Monona Terrace train station -- fight it?

[Paul Milenkovic]

As many know by now, the "powers that be" have decided that the new Madison, WI Amtrak station will go downtown instead of at Dane County Regional Airport.

There are many good reasons for the station at Dane County Regional Airport and many good reasons for the station Downtown.  The WisDOT rail planning director as much as told the folks at ProRail to "take a chill pill" as WisDOT has its eye on eventual service to St Paul and that by necessity of not backing the through trains into the downtown, we will end up with two train stations.

One of the ProRail "talking points", both in responding to the passenger rail critics sprouting up on op-ed pages, such as in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and in responding to the downtown station, is that the new train is "not a Madison-Milwaukee commuter train" but is in reality an "intercity train" and that the need is not for a "Madison train station" but for a "regional train station."

But the whole point behind publically funded trains as behind publically funded highways or publically funded much of anything is that they serve multiple useful purposes.  The new train may serve as a Madison-Milwaukee or even a Madison-Chicago or perhaps Watertown-Glenview commuter train to some people.  It may also serve as access service to the "1000 Amtrak destinations" (i.e. the long distance train network) as ProRail like to point out. 

Furthermore, when you build a political coalition to advance some greater public purpose, you get a variety of people with a variety of interests, more or less aligned but not exactly.  ProRail represents many people from outlying areas to Madison who desire access to the Amtrak network.  The Madison City Mayor represents the interest of using the train to promote the Madison downtown.

The question is this.  Should ProRail or any of the other advocacy groups or persons who advocate trains put much energy into "fighting the downtown train station", as they seem to be doing at this point?  Or is it time to "close ranks" and just plain support getting the new train, perhaps taking the advice of WisDOT that this is going to work itself out for the public good in the long run?

[Rwulfsberg]

Here's a question from someone who's not involved in any of the passenger rail advocacy organizations. Take a look at the makeup of the advocacy group. Then take a look at the makeup of passengers on a typical Midwest corridor train (Milwaukee, Detroit, St. Louis, etc.) or the Badger or Van Galder Buses. Do they look different?

Passenger rail advocacy groups are by their nature made up of people who are passionate about passenger trains. I would guess that many members have logged in many enjoyable trips on the long distance network. It could be that folks with that kind of passion (dare I use the word foam?) and the kind of time to be involved in such groups might have a blind spot regarding the more prosaic use of inter-city passenger rail--getting people back and forth in 100-500 mile corridors for work, school and recreation. These corridors aren't really "commuter" corridors, but commuters use them. The fact that you can buy 10-packs of tickets for the CHI-MKE corridor indicates that there are some frequent users around.

WisDOT's position is that a central station location serves the metropolitan region best, and I tend to agree. For most east-siders, travel time to Monona Terrace is about the same as to the airport. For central, south and west-siders, travel time to the airport is significantly longer, long enough to reduce the attractiveness of a rail trip to Milwaukee or Chicago. It might not make a difference to someone who's eventually hopping on the CZ or SWC for a cruise vacation, but it does for someone going to Chicago for a meeting or day trip, or seeing Mom in Milwaukee for the weekend.

For outlying areas to the south and west of Madison, the travel advantage is still downtown over the airport. The only outlying areas where travel to the airport would be quicker are to the north: Waunakee and DeForest. For outlying areas to the east, even as close as Sun Prairie, Watertown becomes more convenient than either airport or downtown. If and when service to St. Paul comes, Portage will also draw passengers from northern outlying areas.

Another thing to remember is that for expanded service to St. Paul to happen, service to Madison needs to be a phenomenal success. If CHI-MKE-MSN ridership suffers because of poor station location, the issue of the reversal move to go on to St. Paul will never come up, because it won't happen. WisDOT was wise to keep its focus on the Madison corridor.

The Monona Terrace location still has some challenges. Is there a sustainable business model for expanded parking at Government East? Will there easy access from John Nolen Drive? Can we get Greyhound back downtown? It will be interesting to see what develops in the next month or so.

ProRail should chill and advocate for Monona Terrace getting done right. After that, advocate for Twin Cities and Fox River Valley corridors.

 

[saguaro]

Both of the previous posts make good points. Yes, it does make sense to join ranks and support the downtown station. And it is true that if the Milwaukee - Madison line is not successful there will never be a Chicago - Milwaukee - Minneapolis high speed line. So let's all work together now to make Milwaukee - Madison successful. Is there any group out there seeking to do this already?

[CMStPnP]

saguaro

Both of the previous posts make good points. Yes, it does make sense to join ranks and support the downtown station. And it is true that if the Milwaukee - Madison line is not successful there will never be a Chicago - Milwaukee - Minneapolis high speed line. So let's all work together now to make Milwaukee - Madison successful. Is there any group out there seeking to do this already?

I agree and nothing ticked me off more about WisARP then irrational positions back when I was a member.

 Here is what you should think about before second guessing the DOT.      Quite possibly they are looking at supplimental train service over the line to the Airport station, maybe a Commuter train?      I know here in Dallas we could complain about Amtrak's lack of service to Ft. Worth BUT we have frequent commuter trains between Dallas and Ft. Worth so not an issue.     DOT has studied traffic patterns and rail passenger service to death.     My guess is they have already determined that Madison to Milwaukee / Chicago leg of service will be very heavily traveled and the Madison to Twin Cities might not be.      Notice the former Milwaukee Road took a similiar approach to serving Madison, they had a lot more years of rail passenger experience then the DOT.

Last but not least, as I have posted before.     The Obama administration has stated this is a "down payment" on High Speed Rail not that it is the last big grant.     Granted with this Presidency it is looking increasingly like a single term.     However, if additional follow-on grants do become reality there is nothing preventing a reconfiguration in Downtown Madison for a eventual westward extension.      Remember that Madison to Milwaukee / Chicago has to be  a visible success to get further Federal funds more then likely.

So I look at the DOT position as realistic given the future uncertainty on High Speed rail and that something decent is better then something halfway, especially if the halfway option might not be fixed in the future.