What rational WISDOT strategy requires the continuance of that stop in tiny (<10000) Tomah? Or is this again a case of “We do it because we have always done it this way” like so many other rail decisions?
One of the proposals for the Borealis early on was to go through Rochester (Mayo Clinic), but it was determined that would mean taking the line away from several towns along the Mississippi river route, and would pass through large areas with very low populations. Plus there was no evidence a lot of people wanted to go from Chicago to the Mayo Clinic by train, especially since you can fly commercially direct in 70 minutes, or drive from the Twin Cities in about 80 minutes. IIRC Mayo itself wasn’t interested in the new train serving them.
The Obama administration was on the verge of OK’ing a Twin Cities - Chicago high speed rail line, but it fell through because Wisconsin decided to back out.
It’s only now that I realize that this train is an extension of a Hiawatha schedule (sorry, I’ve totally gone into island mode). As such it makes even MORE sense for Minnesota to join the Midwest equipment compact.
Tomah is in the same ridership class (8,000 to 10,000 riders a year for just one daily train) as Columbus, WI and Wisconsin Dells, WI. It has a fair sized and very active Military Reserve base close to it. The city to question is Portage, WI which has the smallest ridership. My guess is Portage used to be a Milwaukee Road facility. It has a bus station shelter type depot (new)…No idea why they didn’t just cancel that stop but it is what it is.
Also, WisDOT philosophy is based off ridership not population of the station stop. Pewaukee, WI has a small population but if it is ever implemented it will draw in a LOT of riders from the surrounding area.
The more I look at this (from a safe distance) the more I ponder the equipment question (force of habit). The Midwest coach fleet is for the states that purchased them and is based on the service as it existed at the time of purchase a decade ago. Wisconsin’s Hiawatha service requires two sets that spend all day running north and south. So to run this new service, even though on schedule it’s an extension of a Hiawatha run, requires two MORE sets of equipment. So does the Midwest fleet grow or does this eventually become an Airo set?
I drove through Tomah today on the way back from a family holiday near La Crosse. The Tomah depot is being completely renovated with a new concrete platform having been poured. Unfortunately wasn’t able to be there when a train was due.
Yes, Tomah ridership in 2023 was just under 11000. Propinquity should also be a factor. Portage is only 17 miles from Wisconsin Dells and Tomah only 44. Combine all stops at the Dells, a major resort town and thus speed up the train times.
Duplicate
Here’s some video I found on YouTube of the Borealis, including the test run done a few days before it started carrying passengers.
This video brings up a question. There are many searchlight signals. At one time when immplementing PTC searchlight signals were considered not desired. That was due to there was no way for the electronics to verify the aspect display. Was that requirement dropped or was there a way to verify the position of the lens?
A long time ago and I believe it was Soo Line. Most if not all the signals along the Chicago to Twin Cities former Milwaukee Road Mainline were swapped out for tricolor signal lights back when they tore out the second mainline. Search lights are very rare and seem to be only maintained in very restrictive speed areas and probably as a suppliment to the tricolor signals. That is my assessment having watched Soo do the upgrade a long time ago.
Also, Soo switched the mainline over to true reverse CTC during single tracking. In Milwaukee times with double track and one big reason Milwaukee retained the double track is they could not afford the resignaling cost for true reverse CTC for the entire mainline and so had directional running CTC. During Milwaukee time the mainline had searchlight signals but they pointed almost entirely one direction on one mainline track and the other direction on the other mainline track of the double track.
Milwaukee trains would crossover onto the other double track for run arounds of slower or stopped trains but could not stay on that other track for long and had to return back to the track where the signals were all facing the engineer. It was not often Milwaukee trains would cross over to the opposing traffic main and typically they would use a siding on the directional traffic main (in areas of triple track). The crossovers between mainline double tracks were used but not as heavily as you would see on a reverse CTC double track mainline.
Saw a video of today’s Borealis speeding through Morton Grove. Consist has four Horizon and one Amfleet. Next stop: Glenview.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/nRrkUivXPzUDdTmQ/?mibextid=oFDknk
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blue streak 1
This video brings up a question. There are many searchlight signals. At one time when immplementing PTC searchlight signals were considered not desired. That was due to there was no way for the electronics to verify the aspect display. Was that requirement dropped or was there a way to verify the position of the lens?
A long time ago and I believe it was Soo Line. Most if not all the signals along the Chicago to Twin Cities former Milwaukee Road Mainline were swapped out for tricolor signal lights back when they tore out the second mainline. Search lights are very rare and seem to be only maintained in very restrictive speed areas and probably as a suppliment to the tricolor signals. That is my assessment having watched Soo do the upgrade a long time ago.
Also, Soo switched the mainline over to true reverse CTC during single tracking. In Milwaukee times with double track and one big reason Milwaukee retained the double track is they could not afford the resignaling cost for true reverse CTC for the entire mainline and so had directional running CTC. During Milwaukee time the mainline had searchlight signals but they pointed almost entirely one direction on one mainline track and the other direction on the other mainline track of the double track.
Milwaukee trains would crossover onto the other double track for run arounds of slower or stopped trains but could not stay on that other track for long and had to return back to the track where the signals were all facing the engineer. It was not often Milwaukee trains would cross over to the opposing traffic main and typically they would use a siding
Interesting history. World of difference in operation after Soo Line took over with the new signals. Soo also replaced a lot of jointed rail with welded rail.
In his book “The Soo Line - Milwaukee Road Merger Volume 2” Jerry Pinkepank talks about the signalling - siding program on the former MILW between Hastings, MN and Duplainville, WI. At the time he was AVP Operational Analysis for the Soo. The ex-MILW WB main was in dire shape and maintainence costs where so high that they barely had the money to install any CWR. What he proposed was removing sections of the WB main leaving long passing sidings and installing a spring switch at each end directing the train to the right-hand track, so no power switches. The Engineering department accepted his idea, as they calculated the extra expenses incurred from the spring switches would be less than replacing the rail in the WB main. That didn’t happen because the Chief Signal Engineer got a quote ffrrom Safetran, for the lowest price per mile that Mr. Pinkepank had ever heard of.
BTW there is also a large VA Hospital at Tomah, WI. Another reason for a stop in Tomah.
Near Fort McCoy, spent a few National Guard Annual Trainings there. Including one in mid-Feb spent almost the entire two weeks outdoors in a tent…just a lovely place in the winter.
Back in the.60’s I recall traveling I90/94 when long convoys would head to Fort McCoy for summer exercises. Would take miles and miles to get past them.
I-95 in Virginia during the Summer would frequently have National Guard convoys headed to or from Camp A P Hill that is now known as Fort Walker.
Returning to te thread title, any updates on Borealis? I heard it was running late in WI due to signal outages, possibly from storms?
Email the lady that took over as WisDOT PM for the Amtrak relationship or post on Amtrak PR guy Mark Magulari on LinkedIn they should have decent stats on initial performance in about a month or two.