Also recent reports from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Wisconsin State Journal, and a few other blogs have noted that the rail link between Madison and Milwaukee is one of the farthest along as far as planning and environmental studies. This, in essence, means that this rail corridor is one of the most likely to get funding from the stimulus bill.
The trains from Madison to Milwaukee would then continue on to Chicago (via Racine/Kenosha) and expand the current Hiawatha service (which runs from Chicago to Milwaukee). Plans are for there to be 6 round trips a day between Madison and Chicago.
As far as funding goes, Gov. Doyle is requesting around $500 million to completely cover the cost of the Milwaukee-Madison corridor (I do not know if the operating cost is included in this figure).
Future plans for this rail line include extending the line to Minneapolis/St. Paul. This would greatly increase the access between the two cities, seeing as there is just one train a day between two of the largest cities in the Midwest.
Also, other future plans call for trains to go to Green Bay from Milwaukee.
Below is a map (courtesy of the TransportPolitic) of the proposed and current service:
Side note:
Other top contenders, in my opinion, for the rail stimulus bill are:
-California High Speed Rail Project
-Chicago-St. Louis corridor upgrades
-Seattle-Portland Corridor
-Extension of the Northeast corridor to North Carolina
-A corridor in Ohio connecting Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland
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