Commuter rail's the way for county to go

Many still see it as a pipe dream, but some kind of commuter rail for Madison could; and should, be very much in the cards.

A special Dane County Board committee has begun studying the feasibility of rail service -- be it commuter or the new so-called "light" rail -- and will report back to the County Board this fall on what it finds.

The basic proposal is to begin passenger service on railroad rights of way, already publicly owned, between Mazomanie on the west and Sun Prairie on the east.

Folks who work in downtown Madison, for example, could board the train in Mazo, Black Earth, Cross Plains, Middleton and points west of Madison and be dropped off within easy walking distance of the university, the Capitol and the state office buildings downtown. Same thing from Sun Prairie on into the downtown area.

And, as can be seen from the accompanying map, the rail lines would be perfect for football fans going to Camp Randall or basketball fans going to the proposed new field house or to folks using the future Monona Terrace convention center.

There’s also a proposal waiting in the wings to build a loop around the Dane County Coliseum from the Wisconsin River Rail Transit tracks (on the right of the sketch), through the county Expo Center grounds and then linking up with the Chicago Northwestern tracks (at the left) and proceeding back downtown onto the main line. All of the tracks contemplated to connect the loop are also public rights of way.

The loop, of course, would serve to tie large conventions, university and Coliseum events and other activities together. The area’s most avid railroad aficionado, Rodney Kreunen, will be proposing the loop during the committee’s meeting next week.

"Several committee members said it will be essential to tie the county Expo facilities with downtown in order to add more relevance to the complete system," he said.

A map showing the full proposal is on display at Pete Aspinwall’s westside Mermaid car wash facilities.

Obviously it all will depend on the projected public use of the rail service and, of course, the cost.

One thing is known for sure: The cost of such a system will be a fraction of what it would cost to build more freeways and other major concrete arteries to serve the Madison area.