Like the little engine that could, Congress has pressed toward moving passenger rail service in Wisconsin from dream to reality in the last nine months.

   Since October 2007, legislators in Washington, D.C. have approved several important motions to increase funding for train service across the country, though implications for the Chippewa Valley remain distant.
   The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved more than $1.5 billion in Amtrak funding and $100 million in capital grants to states in 2009, hoping to “spawn state-supported” passenger rail services, according to a committee press release dated Wednesday, July 9.
   That decision followed on the coattails of similar legislation in both houses of Congress, which authorizes even more rail funding.
   The House of Representatives passed a bill in June that, among other things, authorizes $4.25 billion dollars over the next five years in federal grants to states, and the Senate passed a similar authorizing bill in October. Joint legislation is still in the works.
   “There’s a recognition that we need to have a national rail system,” said West Central Wisconsin Rail Coalition chairperson Scott Rogers, whose organization has pressed recently for passenger service in this area.
   But a number of things still need to take place before trains can start picking up passengers here, meaning proponents for rail service here will need to hold their applause — at least for now.

Madison, other cities first in line
   If Wisconsin receives federal funding for rail development, the state’s first priority will be to link Madison to Milwaukee, said Wisconsin Department of Transportation Passenger Rail Manager Randy Wade.
   Connecting Madison to the Twin Cities through La Crosse and adding service to Green Bay will likely be the state’s next priority. Only after those projects are finished will other parts of the state likely come up for service, Wade said.
   But while the effects on the Chippewa Valley remain distant, Wade pointed out that Congress’ motion to authorize billions in funding is a step in the right direction.
   “What this does is it sets the stage for moving our plans for rail service in the state forward,” he said.

Problems still loom
   Though the House bill that passed in June authorizes more than $4.25 billion in federal grant money to states between 2009 and 2013 to support rail initiatives, Congress has yet to achieve joint legislation between both houses or get approval from the White House.
   Plus, there is no guarantee that, if passed, Congress will choose to deliver to states or to Amtrak all of the money it will be authorized to use by the joint bill, Wade said.
Last week’s motion by the Senate Appropriations Committee to pump funding to states and to Amtrak in 2009 will offer more immediate help for rail service while the authorization legislation continues to move through Congress, Wade said.
   “They’ve gone ahead and they’ve said we can’t wait for authorization,” he said.
   But like the authorization bills it hopes to bypass, this legislation will also need support from both houses and from the White House — and it still has not yet reached the Senate floor.

For Altoona, service “way off in the future”
   The Chippewa Valley has lobbied in Madison recently for rail service here, though city administrators in Altoona have not pressed the subject internally.
   “Altoona hasn’t taken the lead in that,” City Administrator Mike Golat said. “We’ve played more of a supporting role, but we haven’t had any other discussions at (the) council level about it at all.”
   “It hasn’t been an issue that Altoona’s focused on,” he added, “and it’s way off in the future.”