KRM commuter line hits major snag

Pete Millard reported in the January 16, 2009 The Business Journal of Milwaukee that the Union Pacific Railroad does not agree with some aspects of the current proposal for a Kenosha to Milwaukee commuter rail operation on the UP's tracks. UP wants the commuter service to pay for a second track, additional sidings and signals, more insurance, and higher fees.

Union Pacific had preferred that the Chicago-based Metra, which already operates the commuter rail service from downtown Chicago to Kenosha, would get a contract to run the rail service from Kenosha to Milwaukee.

“It’s too bad Metra couldn’t do it because they’ve got the insurance and liability issues worked out, and KRM wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Beitzel [Pete Beitzel, vice president of transportation for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce] said.

The proposed KRM is often misleadingly described as if it would be an extension of the Metra, that is, that it would offer one-train service to Chicago. The actual proposal would require changing trains in Kenosha, and only some KRM trains would connect with Metra trains. (See Magic costs more than mere rides)

(via Dad29)