ProRailHelping people travel by train
-- and have more trains to travel

ProRail favors the Dane County Airport on Madison's northeast side as its first choice for a train station location when passenger train service is extended to and through Madison as part of the nine-state Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.

ProRail believes that the Airport is the most viable site currently being considered.

Here are our reasons for taking that position, how a 'station and stop' plan would be better than a 'two station' plan, and a final word.

Why We Favor the Airport

Our recommendation is based on the following:

• In October 2000 the HNTB Corporation -- Milwaukee, engineering consultants to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, submitted a detailed report titled An Assessment of Madison Passenger Rail Access Alignments and Station Location Alternatives.This study rated the Airport location the highest among the alternatives.
• The Airport alternative was also rated highest by the ProRail board in 1999 when it independently developed and applied its own criteria for evaluating possible station sites in this area.
• For intercity passenger service to be economically viable, the station must be located where it will be easy for the traveling public to use this service. We believe the Airport location is the most accessible of the station locations under consideration.
• The station will be serving the needs of travelers not only from Madison and Dane County but also from surrounding counties, just as the Dane County Regional Airport does.

Keep in mind that Midwest Regional Rail is a 3,000-mile nine-state system of intercity express trains, not a commuter service to Milwaukee. When fully operational, it will provide access to a dozen points in Minnesota and Wisconsin (including Mitchell Field) as well as Chicago; and in Chicago there will be access to other Midwest Regional trains operating over the rest of the system, as well as Amtrak long distance trains.

• The approach to the Airport from adjacent roads is modern in design and capacity, and offers an impressive gateway into and out of the area.
• The Airport is easy to access from other areas around south central Wisconsin. It is close to the Interstate highways, and the traveling public already knows how to get to the Airport.
• Since the great majority of train passengers will be driving to/from the station and if their destination is the Airport they won't have to contend with downtown traffic (both congestion and navigation) and downtown parking problems.
• The Airport location would provide flyers grounded by bad weather a ready alternative for continuing their trip -- to Mitchell Field in Milwaukee, or to the Twin Cities, or to Chicago (and beyond).
• The Airport management is enthusiastic about a passenger train station being located at the Airport and is willing to work toward that end.
• The amenities that the traveling public want are already at the Airport. They include parking, seven car rental agencies (as of March 2009), taxis, and food service. The Airport has extensive areas for dropping off and picking up passengers by auto. Seventeen area hotels advertise shuttle service to and from the airport. Click here for the most current transportation information.
• The Airport will be a future commuter rail station stop.
• The County currently is developing programs aimed at cutting traffic and air pollution in the central city. A station at any proposed Madison location other than the Airport would work against these programs in two ways: traffic to and from the station, and the disruptive effects of the rail movements themselves.
• Dedicated shuttle service to connect the Airport station with the environs of the University, downtown, and other areas of the city, as needed, would minimize urban congestion and pollution and maximize access.
• Most airports serving a city are more or less remote from the urban area itself. The Dane County Regional Airport is unusual in being so close to town. USA Today reported favorably on this detail in an article discussing Madison's desirable quality of life, listing it first in its list of benefits of living in Madison.
• The Airport is the least expensive site among those being considered. The estimated cost of the infrastructure for the Airport location comes in under the $2 million that the State is willing to contribute to the construction of a train station. ('Downtown' sites for a station check in at three to five times the cost of the Airport site, in addition to the costs of track work.)
• There's less interference with vehicle traffic. Phase 1 of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative envisions trains between Madison and Chicago via Milwaukee. In Phase 3, when some additional track work has been completed, two-thirds of Midwest Regional trains will run through Madison, and through trains would account for three-fourths of rail arrivals and departures.
• Amtrak's long-distance train the Empire Builder will be able to stop in Madison itself, giving ready access to area travelers bound to and from Seattle and Portland and intermediate points west of the Twin Cities. The Builder cannot call at any downtown station site, however, owing to the length of the train (currently more than 1,500 ft and likely to increase).
• Trains moving to and through an Airport station location would entail next to no interference between passenger and freight rail operations around Madison.

All Amtrak trains to and from the Twin Cities will pass the proposed Airport station site whether there is an Airport station there or not.

• Finally, the Airport location is the only station site under consideration that would allow for future expansion without expensive acquisition of property or creating more traffic congestion.

Read our preferred alternative to a "downtown" station.

For a look at the growing interest in rail stations at airports in the U.S. and around the world, check out this June 4, 2002, story in the New York Times