THE ON WISCONSIN AND THE CANNONBALL TO ROLL AGAIN? A bill under consideration in Congress has the potential to extend passenger train service from Milwaukee to Madison.

The Milwaukee-Madison corridor is part of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative, a nine-state coalition to connect the region with rail passenger service. It includes Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Minnesota. Randy Wade, Wisconsin Department of Transportation passenger rail manager, told the Post that the cost of extending Amtrak's Hiawatha service between Milwaukee and Chicago to Madison is now set at $316 million. About $227 million would go toward infrastructure and $89 million toward new equipment.

If Congress passes the bill, Wisconsin DOT would apply for funding for the corridor. Under the new legislation, 80 percent of the funding would be provided by the federal government, while the remaining 20 percent, around $63 million, would be paid for with state funds. Construction would begin two years after funding is approved. If the bill passes this year, it will be complete by 2010, Wade told the Post.

The message for passenger train advocates in Wisconsin appears to be if you build it, they will come.

"The ridership increases are reflective of the investments we've made in the train sets and infrastructure all along the line," Wisconsin Department of Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi told the Capitol Times of Madison, Wis. "As a result of the increased ridership, we anticipate the need to add an additional car on each of the Hiawatha Service runs later this year to eliminate times when there's standing room only."

Wisconsin DOT opened new stations at Sturtevant, Wis., on Aug. 14, 2006, and at Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport on January 18, 2005. Currently, Milwaukee's downtown Amtrak station is undergoing an extensive remodeling. Wisconsin covers 75 percent of the operating costs of the Hiawatha Service with Illinois providing the remaining 25 percent. The service includes seven Chicago-Milwaukee round trips Monday through Saturday and six on Sunday. The service has its own Web site at www.amtrakhiawatha.com.

In the spirit of the Cheddar Curtain Free Trade Zone, Illinois has now joined the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Compact. (This is a different organization from the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative. Too much fragmentation?)

The High Speed Rail Association wants to see an increase in frequency of trains. "The work it takes to increase frequency and dependency is the same work that it takes to make the train faster," Richard Harnish, executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, told Kankakee's Daily Journal. Improvements made for frequency and dependability have the "happy coincidence of taking time out of the schedule," Harnish said. The association brings together both individuals and cities, mostly cities that have Amtrak service.

I recommend that participants in this compact work on connectivity: the current schedules appear to be set route by route with some logical Chicago connections (Milwaukee-Urbana, Macomb-Ann Arbor either unmakeable or unmanageably long.)