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From: cb@hlwpc.UUCP (Carl Blesch)
Newsgroups: net.railroad
Subject: Amtrak service: Milwaukee-Madison
Message-ID: <546@hlwpc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-May-85 13:34:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: hlwpc.546
Posted: Mon May 20 13:34:05 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 21-May-85 06:56:08 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Short Hills, NJ
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I recently saw a news photo item in trains of a disabled
Amtrak train on a Madison (Wisconsin, of course!)-to-Milwaukee
run.  It's been nine years since I've lived in Wisconsin,
and I recall railroad die-hards wanting to restore Madison
service (both to Chicago and Milwaukee) back then.
Wisconsin, however, had some kind of law forbidding the state
to invest in capital improvements for transportation --
a law that was comveniently amended to make exceptions for
highways, airports and waterways.  The last year I lived
in Wisconsin (1976), the issue of amending the law to make it
possible for the state to invest in or float bonds for RR improvements,
lost.  The result -- no Amtrak 403B service would ever be possible.
I know how bad the track was between Milwaukee and Madison --
certainly no good for running times that would compete with
Badger Coaches on I-94 -- so if such trains run today, someone
must have put some bucks in the track.  Can any Wisconsinites
or others nearby bring me up-to-date?

Carl Blesch
"You can take the Badger out of Wisconsin,
but you can't take Wisconsin out of the Badger"