Officials disagree on potential Green Bay train service

From an article by Paul Srubas in the Green Bay Press Gazette:

Mayor Jim Schmitt hopes that Green Bay continues to be part of conversations about passenger rail service in Wisconsin.

Gov. Jim Doyle, in recent discussions about passenger rail service linking Madison and Milwaukee and possibly the Twin Cities, has hinted at the possibility of a rail spur someday connecting Green Bay to the network. Discussions of uses for federal economic stimulus money have fueled interest in mass transit and revitalized discussions of passenger rail service in Wisconsin.

"You'll see significant focus and improvements on passenger rail service throughout the U.S. in coming years," Schmitt predicted. "It's all something the federal and state governments are working on, and we just need to be part of the conversation.

"Linking Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison is important, but I don't want it to stop at Milwaukee. So much of it will come back to how much is being allocated, how much the state is going to get, and we need to keep the idea of Green Bay as a possible spur as a priority.

"It's not something we'll see in the next two or three years, but in the next five or 10? I think it's very doable."

But Paul Jadin, president of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and Schmitt's predecessor as mayor, thinks it could be even further away. The idea is attractive for Green Bay, but Jadin said there are a number of problems that need to be solved.

Jadin was a member of former Gov. Tommy Thompson's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Passenger Rail Service nearly 10 years ago.

"We initially explored the possibility of a train traveling 79 mph, with four stops" between Milwaukee and Green Bay, Jadin said. "It would take 4.5 hours. Who is going to get on a train for 4.5 hours when you can drive it in two?

"We did look at the possibility of speeds of 110 mph, with significant track improvement, would obviously increase the cost of such a project. We found that even if you had a train that could travel 110 mph, with multiple stops between Milwaukee and here, there would be little incentive to use it. It'd still take in excess of three hours."