An advocacy group said Wednesday that the high-speed rail system that
will connect several Midwest cities will benefit the environment and
provide more than 9,000 jobs in Wisconsin.
Members of the Wisconsin
Public Interest Research Group student chapters came to the National
Railroad Museum in Ashwaubenon to promote the $823 million project that
will connect Green Bay, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, and Minneapolis-St.
Paul, among other cities.
WISPIRG — which works on economic, environmental, and
social concerns — is conducting its second annual tour for the system.
The group also has visited Eau Claire, La Crosse and Madison and will
hit Oshkosh, Milwaukee and Racine.
States need to invest in railways instead of more
roads and highways, said WISPIRG student leader Sarah Seibold.
"The Midwest is behind
the East Coast and Europe and Asia in railway travel," said Patricia
Terry, a science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
"Rails are needed to maintain our economic competitiveness."
An expanded rail system
in Wisconsin would produce 9,000 new, permanent jobs, and it would
reduce dependency on oil because railroads are 23 percent more fuel
efficient than airplanes and 40 percent more efficient than
single-passenger cars, Seibold said.
The rail system will use diesel gas before eventually
moving to electricity, she said, but it would still be more efficient
than standard modes of transportation. With oil dependency and gas
prices on the rise, rail travel is a favorable alternative, Terry said.
The price of rail
travel is comparable to, or even less than, the cost of gas, Terry said.
Trains reach speeds between 80 mph and 110 mph, so even the slowest
trains would go faster than cars, she said.
Local lawmakers also support the rail system. Eric
Genrich, a staff member for U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen, D-Appleton, said the
congressman thinks the line would be an asset to the region and that
rails are a priority for legislators in Washington, D.C., and Madison.
Construction of the
rail is years away, and Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt, said his concern is
keeping city buses running due to expected cuts in federal funding for
the transit system.
