Frederica Freyberg:
Wisconsin is looking for between $500 and $600 million in federal stimulus money to eventually link Milwaukee and Madison by high-speed train, as well as to upgrade service between Milwaukee and Chicago. As part of the plan, Gov. Jim Doyle has announced the state will pay $47 million to Spanish train manufacturer Talgo for two 14-car passenger trains that would run between Milwaukee and Chicago. Talgo would establish an assembly plant in Wisconsin, possibly in Janesville, to serve as base of operations for expansion of the train company. Big plans for train travel in Wisconsin with State Secretary of Transportation Frank Busalacchi as one of the drivers.

Frank Busalacchi:
Thanks for having me here.

Frederica Freyberg:
This line between Milwaukee and Madison is just a link of a much larger kind of Midwest route for rail lines. What is the eventual goal for the train?

Frank Busalacchi:
The eventual goal, it's called the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative. It's to hook up any number of cities with Chicago as being the hub throughout the Midwest. There's nine states involved. Eventually, it will be a 3,000 mile network connecting all of these states.

Frederica Freyberg:
And these nine states will be vying for this $8 billion in federal money. What are the prospects that Wisconsin will get the half billion dollars for the start of the project?

Frank Busalacchi:
We feel very good about it. The governor has worked very hard to get us in this position. You know, we're one of the few corridors anywhere in the country that is what's called “shovel ready.” We have all the environmental work done on the Milwaukee-to-Madison. That's one of the criteria that is looked at in this track two phase of the $8 million in recovery funds.

Frederica Freyberg:
And now, this half a billion that we're seeking is just a down payment, really, on the system.

Frank Busalacchi:
Well, you're absolutely right. The $8 billion that President Obama has put in is a down payment for the country on intercity passenger rail as well as the Milwaukee to Madison corridor. It's a start. In years past, it's something we didn't have. There was very little funding to do this. The states wanted to do it. We had this Midwest regional rail plan in place since 1996. But of course, we didn't have the funding to do it.

Frederica Freyberg:
Why do we want to do it?

Frank Busalacchi:
Well, you know, that's a good question. And it's one that I talk about all the time. You know, I'm a highway guy. I'm a DOT secretary. I deal with building highways and bridges all the time. This is about offering mobile options for the people of Wisconsin. We know gasoline prices will go up again. We know the environment is in trouble. Passenger rail is a very good fit for the country and for the state. And it's well worth the investment. I realize it's a lot of money in dollars. But at the same time, we're offering an option. We're not going to stop building highways. People aren't going to stop driving their cars. That's not what this is about. This is about giving people options.

Frederica Freyberg:
If this is a down payment, is there a total number out there for the entire regional system or at least that which Wisconsin will be responsible for?

Frank Busalacchi:
You know, we've got, under our plan, we'll extend to Madison and from Madison, the next step is to go to Minneapolis. We would like to go to Green Bay. Then we have to upgrade between Milwaukee and Chicago because eventually we want to be at 110 miles an hour service. So that will be costly for us. In terms of the build-out for the entire Midwest Regional Rail system, that is about $8.2 billion for the 3,000 mile system. And then you have to add in about $1.4 billion for 64 train sets in today's dollars.

Frederica Freyberg:
And critics say that this is a whole lot of taxpayer money for the return. One vocal critic, Dane County Supervisor Eileen Bruskewitz, gave us a statement. One of the thing that was said is “stimulus dollars would be much better spent for roads that will be used by the 95 percent of commuters that drive and will continue to drive whether a train system is built or not.” What is your reaction to that?

Frank Busalacchi:
Well, again, she's entitled to her opinion. I value everybody's opinion as does the governor. We listen to everybody. But quite honestly, the reason that the president put this money in, the vice president is behind this plan, any number of people, is that we recognize that the day of the automobile, we've got to look at other alternatives. We know that people love to ride these trains, Frederica. Our service has gone up 20 percent in the last year alone. Around the country, we're running into this where more and more people are riding on trains. If you make it convenient and you get it on time, people will use it. What it's going to do for us economically, for the environment, for oil prices is going to be dramatic. So while the debate will go on and certainly I understand her debate, because again, I'm a DOT guy, I think it's short-sighted and that we have to look to the future. I really believe the future is trains. Look at Europe. Look at Japan. Look at China. They’ve all got these initiatives going. They're increasing their service, increasing the number of trains they're running.            

Frederica Freyberg:
Who is the customer for this line? Are these commuters, tourists? Who?

Frank Busalacchi:
Well, it's going to be a combination of all of those. If you look at the Chicago to Milwaukee, there's a lot of business people who ride that train every day. Those trains are packed. At the same time, and you would know this, there's a lot of shoppers that go to Chicago, people go to Chicago for different events. They like to come up to Milwaukee when there's a Cubs series. Everybody goes back and forth. So there's a whole mix of people that are riding this train that didn't do this years ago.

Frederica Freyberg:
And have you ridden on one of these Talgo trains?

Frank Busalacchi:
Yes. I've been to Spain twice. I've ridden on their trains. Quality-wise, they're exceptional. They are very comfortable. They have all the amenities for the computers, the wide windows, just a comfort for the people that ride them. The wide seats. So I've ridden them a number of times. They're a very, very capable company, very quality-oriented.

Frederica Freyberg:
And some people are worried about these trains, particularly when they get to be kind of the high-speed trains, about them going through these city tracks, going through cities. There are a number of stops proposed along this route from Milwaukee to Madison. What about that?

Frank Busalacchi:
There are three stops proposed from Milwaukee to Madison. Oconomowoc, Watertown, and I’m trying to think of another. We'll have three stops. And that's to increase ridership. That's why we do that. Now, the trains in the segmental stops will operate under 70 miles an hour. The express trains will operate closer to 80 miles an hour. I realize that's average speed. The tracks will be adjusted to handle 110 miles an hour. But the safety aspect of it is something that we're concerned, that's why we have to upgrade the track. Have to upgrade the crossing. It's not super high speed. It will not be dedicated track. Dedicated track is much more expensive than the type of service we're talking about.

Frederica Freyberg:
How expensive will it be for a commuter, say, to ride this train? Will it end up being economically worth it for the rider?

Frank Busalacchi:
Well, currently to ride the Hiawatha from Milwaukee to Chicago is $22 one way. If you're a senior, you get a discount. And we're going to try to keep, we're going to try to keep the costs reasonable so people will ride the train. So there will be a subsidy of some kind that the state will have to provide. Because the main thing is to keep the costs reasonable so people ride the train. We haven't figured out exactly what that cost per person would be.

Frederica Freyberg:
Thanks, Secretary Busalacchi.

Frank Busalacchi:
Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:
And the transportation secretary tells us Wisconsin expects word by late this fall on federal funding and if it comes through, the trains could be running by 2012.