Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: Campus News

Media Credit: Brian Miller

The possibility of high-speed rail connecting Eau Claire to the Twin Cities became more of a reality last week.

Included in the $810 million in federal funding for Wisconsin's high-speed rail development is $1 million to study a high-speed train route from the state capital to the Twin Cities.

The federal funding is part of an $8 billion package of grants approved by Congress in the 2009 economic recovery act specifically for railroads.

Donna Brown, the state passenger rail implementation manager, said the route between Madison and the Twin Cities is projected to go through either Eau Claire or La Crosse. Brown said Wisconsin and Minnesota will work together to decide the best route for both states.

In the past, discussion about the rail route indicated it was likely to go through La Crosse. Last year Gov. Jim Doyle told The Leader-Telegram that a route through the city was more likely than one through Eau Claire.

Eau Claire City Council member Jackie Pavelski said she thinks Eau Claire is a good candidate for the railway. Recent studies show 40,000 vehicles travel daily between Eau Claire and the Twin Cities on Interstate 94, which is more traffic than what goes daily between Milwaukee and Madison she said. She also said that Eau Claire still had much of the info structure to support the line left from the 1960s.

"We think we'll fare well with those studies," Pavelski said.

Eau Claire City Council member Larry Balow said that a train route through Eau Claire would be a "tremendous economic boom for the city." He also said a railway would help with student transportation and could help bring more students to the university.

Jodi Thesing-Ritter, associate dean of students agrees with Balow.

"One of the problems for many of our students is transportation," she said.

Thesing-Ritter said that many of UW-Eau Claire's students hail from places between Madison and the Twin Cities. She said a high-speed rail route would give them another transportation option to and from college.

She said it would also open up educational opportunities for students who want to visit art and theater exhibits in the Twin Cities.

Eva Ikstena, an international student from Latvia, also thinks that Eau Claire would benefit from the stop. Ikstena said in Latvia she takes a train daily for transportation from her home to school. She said she was shocked when she came to Eau Claire and found out there was no easy way to get to the Twin Cities.

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