Communities push to replace Oconomowoc as high-speed train stop

Four communities have voiced interest in replacing Oconomowoc as a stop on a planned Milwaukee-to-Madison high-speed rail line, a top state transportation official says.
Wauwatosa, Hartland, Sun Prairie and Waterloo all have contacted the state Department of football jersey Transportation about hosting a station on the route, said Cari Anne Renlund, executive assistant to Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi.
But it's not clear whether the DOT would pick any of those four as a station site, or even whether the federally funded $810 million plan could be altered to accommodate a new station at this point, Renlund warned.
The high-speed rail plan has become a major issue in the gubernatorial race, with Republican candidates Scott Walker and Mark Neumann vowing to shut down construction to shield state taxpayers from paying $10 million a year in operating costs, while Democratic candidate Tom Barrett and Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle have defended the project as an economic boon to the state.
That controversy reverberates in the cities and villages seeking stations.
"It's a political football," said Sun Prairie Mayor Joe Chase, adding that some people's opinions seem to depend on whether "the right candidate for governor is elected."
For more than 10 years, since the rail plan was first crafted under former Republican Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, transportation officials envisioned three stops between Milwaukee and Madison: Brookfield, Oconomowoc and Watertown.
That changed last week, when the DOT abruptly ended talks nfl jersey wholesale on an Oconomowoc station. Busalacchi claimed Oconomowoc officials had indicated they were no longer interested in a stop, while city officials said they had only been raising questions about costs and financing.
Trains would start service at 79 mph in 2013, increasing to 110 mph by the end of 2015. The route would operate as an extension of Amtrak's existing Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line, and eventually could be extended to the Twin Cities.
Some of the route's six daily round trips would run nonstop between downtown Milwaukee and downtown Madison, and DOT officials say the intermediate stops aren't essential to the route's success.
Also, any new stations would require detailed environmental studies, which means it's easier to subtract stations than to add them, Renlund said.
"It would be a heavy lift," particularly in light of the DOT's self-imposed deadline to finalize the station lineup sometime in September, Renlund said. "We're not looking to add stations."
But DOT officials will listen to the communities that want stations, Renlund said.
Push for Tosa
Wauwatosa has been the focus of speculation about a new station. Milwaukee County Clerk Joe Czarnezki has been pushing the city as an alternative to a Waukesha County stop, pointing to the potential benefits of a station near the Milwaukee Regional Medical Complex, Milwaukee County Research Park and planned University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee graduate engineering school.
Czarnezki also has noted Waukesha County politicians' opposition to high-speed rail, suggesting their predominantly Republican constituents don't want to ride trains. But Wauwatosa is also the home of Walker, the Milwaukee County executive who has made his opposition to the rail line a centerpiece of his gubernatorial campaign.
Mayor Jill Didier and City Administrator James Archambo did not return calls seeking comment.
In Hartland, just a few miles from Neumann's Nashotah home, Village President Dave Lamerand says, "I am not in favor of the high-speed rail to begin with. I don't think they should be spending the money."
But, Lamerand adds, "If they are going to build it, I would like Hartland to be considered for a station," possibly on Capitol Drive, about half a mile from the intersection of state Highways 16 and 83 and within walking distance of downtown.
A rail station could help boost the village's economy, raise its visibility and bring workers to Hartland factories, Lamerand said.
"We don't see a lot of nfl throwback jerseys minuses," Lamerand concluded.
Mixed feelings are also evident in Sun Prairie, where Common Council President John Murray and City Administrator Patrick Cannon declined to give their opinions about a potential station, saying the council hasn't weighed in yet. But city officials had voiced interest in a station in both 2000 and earlier this year, Chase said.
"You can't have it both ways," Chase said.
Chase said Sun Prairie would reap more economic benefit from a station than from a train that sped through without stopping. He also said a Sun Prairie station could draw eastern Dane County residents who might not drive into downtown Madison to catch a train.
Waterloo is taking a similar approach, City Clerk-Treasurer Mo Hansen said.
In the early years of the high-speed rail plan, Waterloo was the headquarters of a "stop the train" movement, at the time the most organized opposition to the project.
But late last year, the Jefferson County city started re-evaluating its position, culminating with a March council vote to drop its opposition and adopt a new set of priorities on how to co-exist with the trains, Hansen said. Seeking a station is one of cheap nfl jerseys those points, along with minimizing the noise and traffic impact of the trains.
Under Mayor Bob Thompson, "the premise we're working off is to get the best deal possible for the city of Waterloo," Hansen said.