Madison to Chicago

There is a proposal out there that will extend the Hiawatha service (that currently runs from Milwaukee to Chicago) to the Madison. Here are a couple of the main points:

-8 trains a day from Madison to Chicago
-2 hour 45 min travel time (which is about the same as in a car, although that's if you don't get caught in too much traffic)
-Trains operating at up to 110 mph (which is technically not high speed, high speed rail is said to be operating at over 125 mph), which is a good starting point for new rail service
-Wisconsin has set aside $80 million to be matched by federal funds for the project

Let's get this going! Write to you representative or senator and let him/her know that this would be a great project for Wisconsin to pursue. Why?

-Reduce cars on the road between Madison-Milwaukee-Chicago
-Miss the traffic outside of Chicago
-Environmental benefits/help stop global warming
-Create jobs in Wisconsin

and not to mention:

-NO MORE TOLLS when driving in Illinois!

So please, give your money to the hardworking people of Wisconsin, not the bureaucrats ("cough, Blagojevich, cough") of Illinois.

Here is a map of the proposed route:

China passing the U.S. in rail infrastructure

I found this article while on the "Trains for America" blog. It is an article in the New York Times written by Keith Bradsher. The article talks about how China is currently in a spending frenzy, like the one it seems we are about to have. But unlike our plan (which currently has very few provisions for rail), the Chinese plan calls for massive construction of high speed, intercity, commuter, and freight train lines running throughout China. Highlight a few points from the article:

-This year China plans to spend $88 billion on intercity rail
-Our (American) plan calls for 5% of roughly $800 billion to be spent on transportation, (which will be mostly highways)
-China has spent almost as much as they did on the Three Gorges Dam on one high speed train line
-In the last FOUR years China has built as many miles of high speed rail as Europe has in the last TWENTY years

While China surges ahead in high speed, intercity, commuter, and freight rail, the US is left in the dust. President Obama has not made nearly any provisions for rail infrastructure in his bail out plan, especially compared to the Chinese. This is very disappointing of the new president, I expected better for rail when I voted for him.

Here is the URL of the NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/business/worldbusiness/23yuan.html?_r=1

Probably the best "How do they do it?"

This is one of my favorite shows on the Science channel:

Part 1:


Part 2:

Football Train

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a train from Milwaukee to Lambeau Field for Packers games? It could carry many of the people who have the Milwaukee season ticket packages and take all of those cars off the road. Also, this train could stop in Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, Neenah, and Appleton. No doubt many of Green Bay's season ticket holders hail from the fox valley. It would also be nice if there was regular service along this corridor.

Just saying, it would be nice.

Oh yeah, and for game days the train should look like this:

The Powerful Dells Lobby

Most likely, any new high (or just higher) speed rail will pass through the town of Wisconsin Dells. This city would look to gain more tourism if a train system were to stop there. The most likely rail line would have Chicago on one end and Minneapolis on the other. These cities are great areas to draw tourists from. I believe the Dells would see their businesses grow significantly if they were connected to a new rail network.
Now to the Lobby. When I was in elementary school, the Dells were able to lobby the Wisconsin government to pass a law requiring public schools to start after the labor day weekend, allowing for more people to make a last summer trip to the Dells.

If the Dells lobby can do this, just think what they can do if they get behind high speed rail.

Cargo Train Commercial

Saw this commercial while watching the inauguration coverage. I liked how it poked fun at cars and how trains use less fuel. I also like how train companies are running commercials to get their name out.

High Speed Rail in downtown Madison, are you crazy?

I've heard rumors that Madison might be getting high speed rail and that some people are advocating that the high speed train stop in downtown Madison. I believe that the high speed train should have a stop at the airport. To me, this makes much more sense both practically and economically.
-Connecting our high speed rail to the airport is crucial to have an integrated transportation infrastructure, and the airport already has the basic parking set up and enough room to accommodate a decent station.
-Another problem with having the high speed rail stop downtown is the amount of time needed for the train to get downtown. This would increase train times dramatically, not to mention the problem of building high speed track in downtown Madison.

I believe the best solution is to have the high speed rail stop only at the airport and be connected to a commuter train that runs from Middleton (or even Cross Plains or further out) to the airport that stops in downtown Madison.

Trains in Europe

This is video slide show of a bunch of different trains I saw while in Europe. Hope you enjoy:

Bikes on Trains

The title picture got me thinking about all the people I say on that train with their bikes. Where the wald bahn operates is not by any means heavily populated (it actually borders the Bavarian National Forest). Allowing bikes on trains is essential for regional and local trains in Wisconsin for multiple reasons. First, it is enviromentally friendly to encourage people to bike to the train from their homes to where ever their destination might be. Second, the lack of city public transport in most towns means that if don't want to walk from the train station to your destination you need a car, allowing bikes increases the range of places people can go by just taking the train (no offense to Wisconsin city buses, but they need work). And third, I saw in Europe that people going for bike rides will take the train to the bike trails and then bike, it allows people to get out of the city to relax. Bellow are some pics from the web of people biking and riding:

Note about the Title Pic

The title picture now is a picture of the Wald Bahn in eastern Baveria, Germany. I took this train in the spring of 2008 to go visit Bayerisch Eisentstien, which is where my great-grandfather is from.

Welcome

I've Started this blog to talk about getting (better) trains in the U.S. specifically Wisconsin.