UPDATED Saturday, January 24, 2009 --- 9:10 p.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Jim Doyle says the proposed federal stimulus package should provide a boost for efforts to expand passenger rail service in Wisconsin.

Doyle spoke to the House Transportation Committee in Washington, D.C., on Thursday and stressed that Wisconsin would put stimulus money to good use for things like construction jobs and passenger rail infrastructure.

He spoke partly on behalf of the Passenger Rail Coalition, an alliance of states supporting more intercity passenger rail service. In Wisconsin, the push is aimed at developing a high-speed rail corridor between Milwaukee and Madison and increasing Chicago-Milwaukee service.

Doyle says traffic on the Hiawatha line linking Chicago and Milwaukee has increased 28 percent from a year ago.

The next step is for the state to submit reports on exactly what it plans to do with stimulus money.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

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Posted Saturday, October 25th, 2008 -- 2:45 pm
By Zac Schultz

Madison: Four decades after Amtrak service left Madison the plans are in place to bring rail passenger service back to the capitol city.

The map stretching across the back of the conference room shows in detail the train route for a Milwaukee to Madison Amtrak route.

"A decade ago it was a dream," says John Parkyn, President of the Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers.

Today the black line on the map represents the future of passenger trail in Wisconsin. "The map here shows the trackage from Milwaukee into Madison," says Parkyn.

The federal government recently provided a big boost to expanding Amtrak with an authorization bill. "So now it moves from a dream stage more towards potential reality," says Parkyn.

"There's always an if," says Randy Wade, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation Passenger Rail Manager. "The good news is we have a federal program framework."

That's why, Saturday, members of the Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers were excited to listen to a presentation on what the future Milwaukee to Madison route would look like.

The route would follow the current tracks out of Milwaukee to Watertown, from there the tracks go through Waterloo, south of Sun Prairie and into Madison. "We're going to come into the downtown area, cut across the downtown area and go back and have a stop at the airport initially," says Wade.

"We'll operate 110 miles per hour through parts of the route," says Parkyn.

Early estimates say (six times a day) Madison to Milwaukee would take a little over an hour. Double that and you're in downtown Chicago. The cost would run anywhere from $22 to $40 for each leg of the trip. "The entire design both fair-wise and travel time-wise is very comparable to automobile travel," says Parkyn.

The biggest hurdle is upgrading the track between Watertown and Madison. The start-up costs are around $440 million, with the federal government paying 80%, and the state paying the rest, about $88 million.

The route could be up and running by 2012.

The Department of Transportation says they hope Amtrak service to Madison would link up with Dane County's commuter rail system.