An advocate for high speed rail says Wisconsin's chances for getting the service are looking pretty good. Madison to Milwaukee at 110 miles an hour? Kevin Brubaker with the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago says we could soon see high speed rail along the existing Hiawatha route between Milwaukee and Chicago.
But that's not all. Brubaker says for about $500 million, we could get high speed rail between Milwaukee and Madison. Eight billion dollars in federal stimulus dollars have been allocated for high speed rail nationwide, and Brubaker says Wisconsin and the Midwest are in an ideal position to compete for some of that money, in part because of groundwork done years ago by former Governor Tommy Thompson. Brubaker says the trains are three times as efficient as cars and six times as efficient as planes over the same distance, and he believes business traveler in particular will be eager to use the service.
