Passenger Rail Advocates Gather in Milwaukee

Hayden Clarkin speaks at the Thinking Big Wisconsin passenger rail event. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Approximately 100 advocates of expanding passenger rail service in Wisconsin attended a half-day conference Thursday afternoon on Milwaukee’s Lower East Side.

The event, held at the Oriental Theatre, featured a variety of panels and a keynote speech by New York City-based urban planner Hayden Clarkin, known to his more than 300,000 social media followers as “The Transit Guy.”

Clarkin’s speech focused on the absurdity that a 1991 study to build up to 300 mph rail service between Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and the Twin Cities was all but forgotten, and that current trips on the Hiawatha have slowed by two minutes since then. Clarkin, using demographic data and a series of maps, highlighted Wisconsin’s similarities with Denmark, while noting that the latter has more than 2,700 train trips per day to Wisconsin’s 30 (including Metra’s Kenosha service). Clarkin, who said his comments would get him in trouble with the media, noted that the Amtrak Hiawatha Service and Borealis, on a percentage basis, are subsidized at a lower percentage than Wisconsin’s roads (22% and 25% vs. 34% in his calculations).

Mayor Cavalier Johnson gave an opening speech, discussing the value of passenger rail in connecting Milwaukee with Wisconsin and the Midwest. Newsradio 620 WTMJ host Kristin Brey served as the event emcee.

A panel on building the vision for passenger rail in Wisconsin included Department of City Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump, Kapur & Associates Vice President and former Republican Assembly Representative Jeff Stone, and West Central Wisconsin Rail Coalition Chair, Wisconsin private sector designee to the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission and Eau Claire resident Scott Rogers. The trio spoke of the need to build a coalition across party lines, the potential for a passenger rail caucus in the Legislature, and the cost and time impacts of requiring so many studies.

Rick Harnish, executive director of the Chicago-based High Speed Rail Alliance, presented lessons learned from the privately financed Brightline commuter rail project in Florida, and Racine Mayor Cory Mason gave an update on the MARK planning process, an update to the earlier Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line.

During the event, Gov. Tony Evers issued a press release confirming a June 6 Urban Milwaukee report that the state was pursuing a federal grant to cover up to 80% of the cost to build the Hiawatha West passenger rail extension from Milwaukee to Pewaukee, Watertown and Madison.

Milwaukee council members Alex Brower and Peter Burgelis, Kenosha Mayor David Bogdala and Rep. Angelina Cruz (D-Racine) were among the elected officials in attendance.

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