All rail roads lead to Kenosha

Yesterday's Milwaukeee Journal Sentinel reported that for the planned revival of Milwaukee to Madison passenger rail service, Madison rail station to be at Monona Terrace. It describes the service this way.

The six daily round trips between Madison and Milwaukee - with stops in Brookfield, Oconomowoc and Watertown - would operate as an extension of Amtrak's Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line, allowing passengers to ride from Madison to Chicago without changing trains.

One-train service somehow became unimportant for the proposed KRM commuter rail service, as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had reported as a New route for commuter rail.

For years, the proposed rail line has been described as a Metra extension. But the new version would be a separate system connecting with Metra at Kenosha or Waukegan.

Metra, an Illinois governmental agency, has said it could not provide service to another state. The Union Pacific railroad pays for service between the state line and Kenosha because that is less expensive than building a new facility for trains to turn around at the border.

Sounds like there could have been an extension of the Metra service if it was paid for from Wisconsin.