Racine Sun

A new commuter rail system is coming to town, courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

According to a Railway Age report, the new system stretches 33 miles of active freight rail from Milwaukee to Kenosha. The train will eventually link with the Union Pacific North commuter rail system in Kenosha, with the line having access to nine stations, six of them new to the system. The proposed trial is set to run parallel to I-94 along Lake Michigan in southeastern Wisconsin.

To get the project moving, the train, which will travel at speeds of up to 79 mph, will need new maintenance facilities, new and repaired bridges, and new motors.

Even with the new improvements, not everyone views the plan as being in the state’s best interest.

“The transportation nonsense is going to be Wisconsin's downfall,” Milwaukee resident Michael Bradley posted on Twitter in May. “You got places getting $600M widening projects where there's no population or traffic growth in 20 years, while the rest of us are singing hallelujah if a few bucks accidentally trickle thru for safe routes to school.”

WisDOT officials are hoping the upgraded system will increase regional transit mobility, especially for those areas that are transit-dependent, a recent Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Commuter Rail report said.

“WisDOT anticipates selection of a locally preferred alternative (LPA) in December 2022, and adoption of the LPA into the region’s fiscally constrained long-range transportation plan in January 2023,” the report said. “WisDOT anticipates completing the environmental review process by late 2023, receiving approval to enter engineering in early 2024, and receiving a full funding grant agreement in early 2025. The anticipated start of revenue service date is mid-2026.”