Eau Claire Council OKs Rail Commission

The city council of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, has approved creating a passenger rail commission.

The council voted in favor of a resolution to establish the Chippewa-St. Croix Rail Commission, which will study developing service between Eau Claire and St. Paul, Minnesota.

The route would use existing Union Pacific track that once was operated by the Chicago & North Western.

Intermediate stations on the 80-mile route are expected to be Menomonie, Baldwin, Hudson, and Stillwater.

The commission hopes to be joined by other communities and the West Central Wisconsin Rail Coalition on the project.

Eau Claire has been without intercity rail passenger service since the 1960s.

Wisconsin City Eyes Rail Commission

A Wisconsin city is considering forming a rail commission that would help develop rail passenger service to St. Paul, Minnesota.

The city council of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, was expected to vote on the proposal at its Jan. 13 meeting.

A resolution being considered by council members would establish the Chippewa-St. Croix Rail Commission.

Other municipal and county governments could join the commission.

The proposed 80-mile route would use Union Pacific tracks that once hosted the famed Chicago & Northwestern 400 trains between Chicago and the Twin Cities.

Intermediate stops would include Meonomie, Baldwin, Hudson and Stillwater.

If created the commission would pursue grants and public-private partnerships.

Eau Claire Seeking Bus Link to Tomah Amtrak Station

The city council in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Tuesday approved a resolution supporting a shuttle service to link the city with the Amtrak station in Tomah, Wisconsin.

The shuttle would board in Eau Claire at the bus transfer center.

The Amtrak shuttle has been discussed in Eau Claire for years. City council member Jeremy Gragert said connecting Eau Claire to an Amtrak station will still help commuters.

“I also live in the city without a car and other people do as well,” he said. “A lot of students and a lot of people maybe are too young to drive, too old to drive.”

The resolution asks the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to establish the shuttle service, which also would stop in Black River Falls.

Eau Claire has never had Amtrak service and been without intercity rail passenger service since the Chicago & North Western ended service there in 1963.

Eau Claire Support Rail Service — Again

The Eau Claire city council this week voted to support a proposal to establish passenger-rail service between the Wisconsin city and St. Paul, Minnesota.

The vote came after a presentation by the West Central Wisconsin Rail Coalition, which is supporting a private section plan to start the service.

It is the third vote by the council in support of passenger rail, but other resolutions went nowhere due to lack of funding.

Eau Claire has never had intercity rail passenger service during the Amtrak era.

Group Eyes Eau Claire-St. Paul Rail Service

A group of western Wisconsin residents is seeking to bring back intercity rail passenger service to Eau Claire, which has not seen a passenger train in 52 years.

The West Central Wisconsin Rail Coalition was formed in 1999 and is seeking to convince transportation officials in Wisconsin and Minnesota to develop an Eau Claire-Menomonie-Hudson rail passenger corridor.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has been studying development of rail passenger routes from the Twin Cities to Duluth, Rochester and Eau Claire.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has been focusing more on improving the Amtrak Hiawatha Service between Milwaukee and Chicago, but has also collaborated with Minnesota officials in seeking to develop addition intercity rail passenger service between Chicago and the Twin Cities.

The West Central group hopes to persuade transportation officials to route trains through Eau Claire via a Union Pacific route that once  hosted the famed Chicago & North Western 400 trains between Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul that ran 400 miles in 400 minutes.

They have pointed to information from MnDOT showing that more than 100,000 vehicles cross the St. Croix River at Hudson every day with many of those drivers coming from the St. Croix and Chippewa valleys.

MnDOT has estimated that rail service could attract 1,000 to 1,400 passengers a day, which would be 5 percent of the travel market and potentially enough to cover the daily operating cost of rail service.

The West Central group believes that there is a market for four daily roundtrips between Eau Claire and St. Paul. Fares would range between $25 to $40. With an 80-mph speed limit, trains could cover the distance in an hour and 15 minutes.

A public-private partnership might be needed to make the service a reality.

The West Central group formed an organizing council last year that will explore financing options as well as capital needs to rebuild the track between Eau Claire and the Twin Cities.

The service would not necessarily be provided by Amtrak. The West Central group pointed to the public-private partner behind All Aboard Florida and noted that Iowa Pacific Holdings took over from Amtrak the Chicago-Indianapolis Hoosier State.

To learn more about the coalition, go to http://www.westwisconsinrail.org, or http://www.facebook.com/westcentralwisconsinrail, or twitter.com/WestWisRail