200 people rally to support rail line

From an article by Tom Daykin in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

About 200 people attended a Saturday rally at Milwaukee's Amtrak-Greyhound station, asking Governor-elect Scott Walker to back off his pledge to cancel contracts for a planned Milwaukee-to-Madison passenger rail line.

Rally speakers said the rail service would create badly need jobs, provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to driving, and link Milwaukee and Madison to a national rail network that includes Chicago - and eventually Minneapolis.

Without that link, said state Sen. Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee), Wisconsin "will be isolated from the rest of the national rail network."

The rally, organized by the Sierra Club and other groups, was part of a statewide action that included rallies in Madison, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Oshkosh and Watertown.

Milwaukee rally organizers asked the crowd to write or call Walker.

Walker says the estimated annual costs to state taxpayers of operating the train, $7.5 million once fare revenue is subtracted, would be too high for an underused and unneeded service.

Posted in: Economic development,Trains