Interesting survey and interesting comments from customers that use rail to ship and recieve goods. One of the most interesting conclusions towards the end of the survey is that some customers because they are indirect customers of rail have no clue that the loss of rail freight would negatively impact their business.
Also, interesting the annual monetary benefits of the state subsidizing WSOR are given and I thought were much higher than I expected. Below is the link to the study.
Last paragraph of page 17. I thought PORS was the state subsidized WSOR by itself. They have impact and multipliers but no ROI that I can see but you could probably figure that out by taking the annual subsidy vs. impact.
Not sure if that would be equivalent, but it does seem to provide a considerable positive economic benefit. My understanding is that WSOR is the operator on a state-owned RoW: “To provide for needed public investment in the state’s railroad system, local Rail Transit Commissions were formed to accommodate public acquisition and rehabilitation of rail lines needed to provide essential freight rail service that would otherwise be abandoned by major Class I railroads.” Although one forum member contends it would be to the contrary nationally, it does not appear that the WI government-owned RoW is being poorly maintained, even though much of it was a mess when acquired.
Well initially before WSOR established a working relationship with the State of Wisconsin it’s right of way was a mess. After Bill Gardner came on board he used his former highway contractor contacts to explain to the state how important secondary railway lines are. Before WSOR took over the Waukesha to Prarie Du Chien line which was the first Milwaukee mainline across Wisconsin was largely sunk in the mud with a top speed of 10 mph and rail dating back to around or before the turn of the century, you might have seen one train every other day if you were lucky. It’s now well ballasted and speeds are up to 45-50 mph in places and actually looks like a mainline now for a Class I. Traffic on the line has increased substantially as well as WSOR has been real active under Bill Gardner at attracting new rail based businesses.
WSOR also operates the line north of Fox Lake, IL to Janesville and then onto Madison as well as the Watertown to Madison line. Without WSOR these lines would have long ago been bike trails and we would have lost the last rail line between Madison and Chicago (that the 765 just ran over using the former Milwaukee Passenger Train name “The Varsity” that used to use this line).
The state of Wisconsin pays primarily for the rail improvements and maintenence with a small in kind contribution from WSOR. WSOR for the most part operates the track and retains what the state and WSOR have agreed is a fair but not excessive return. Thats the business relationship. WSOR sets up improvement projects and presents what the return will be to the state and the state either goes along with them or does not. In almost all cases Bill Gardner had the state’s trust and they gave him pretty much carte blanche to do what he wanted.
Then this stupid campaign finance scandal arose where Gardner was caught exceeding the state contributions to the Walker campaign. &n