SOME RESERVATIONS ABOUT THAT MADISON TRAIN. Last night, I suggested that the traffic forecast for a Milwaukee - Watertown - Truax Field passenger train service was optimistic. Shark and Shepherd elaborates.

It seems to me that supporters are in some type of denial. This line is supposed to carry 1.08 million passengers as opposed to the 766000 that currently use the Hiawatha line because ... why? Is there something at the Dane County Regional Airport that I don't know about. Could be, I suppose, since I have never had a reason to go there.

He also notes that a train service to the Capitol and the University might carry more passengers. Madison's geography poses a problem: there is a direct route from Watertown to the Kohl Center that passes right under the Monona Civic Center. It's facing the wrong direction for a fast train to the Cities. A station near the airport would be on a line faced more or less toward the Cities.

I got the link from a Charlie Sykes post that includes a fascinating transportation model video.

The display is a bit fancier than anything I will build, but I don't have a million person-hours to allocate to working on the railroad.