A chance to link communities

Edward Emma, president and COO of Jockey International Inc., Robert Mariano, chair of the Regional Transportation Committee of the Greater Milwaukee Committee and chairman and CEO of Roundy's Supermarkets Inc., and David B. Rayburn, president and CEO of Modine Manufacturing Co. in an op-ed in Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The KRM commuter rail system would extend the existing commuter rail line from Chicago to Kenosha north to downtown Milwaukee,

No, it wouldn't. The latest plan is for trains from Milwaukee to Kenosha where passengers could change to the commuter trains to Chicago.

making nine stops for commuters along the way,

So don't be in a hurry.

and would promote economic development in Wisconsin by providing a link to the global economy in Chicago.

Though there already is auto, bus, limo, rail, and air service.

Best of all, the proposed line would be funded with millions of federal dollars.

Best of all, if spending federal tax dollars is an end in itself.

Under the current KRM proposal, federal funding would pay approximately 57.5% to 65% of the capital costs for this service and another 30% of the annual operating fees.

According to the story linked in my earlier post, the capital cost is estimated at about a quarter billion dollars, and I calculated the operating cost at about $1.20 per passenger mile. So even if we regard federal spending as free money, we have to come up with around $100 million of the capital costs and 84 cents per passenger mile.

If Wisconsin does not take advantage of this opportunity to invest minimal local funding to leverage four to five times that amount in federal dollars, the federal funds will go to a transportation project in another state.

Note that "four or five times" would be 80% or more federal money, which contradicts the lower percentages they just provided.

The new commuter line will provide a efficient link to Chicago and its northern suburbs, including Waukegan, Lake Forest and Evanston,

If you take the train, or in this case trains, to one of those cities, how do you then get to your ultimate destination?

encouraging an estimated $7.8 billion increase in real estate values and $750 million increase in retail development around the new Wisconsin commuter rail stations.

Given they've already fudged the numbers on the federal funding, I'm even more skeptical of these projections.

The nine proposed stops along the KRM corridor differentiate this rail line from the existing Amtrak service, providing more access and opportunities for commuters to travel among the nine stations in the corridor rather than being restricted to a continuous route from Milwaukee to Chicago.

Frequent stops (other than your own) and having to change trains in Kenosha would be disadvantages of this new service.