(rshsdepot) Brookfield, WI Seeks Grant For Railroad Depot

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Brookfield seeks grant for railroad depot
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 
4/16/01

Brookfield seeks grant for railroad depot City wants to overhaul 19th-century 
building for high-speed rail; 
Sun Prairie also in running 

By SCOTT WILLIAMS of the Journal Sentinel staff Monday, April 16, 2001 

Brookfield is seeking state funds to transform a 19th-century railroad depot 
into a stopover on a $4.1 billion high-speed passenger rail network 
crisscrossing the Midwest. The Waukesha County community is competing for the 
$60,000 state grant with Sun Prairie, a city outside Madison that expects to 
be bypassed by high-speed rail and instead wants to use the money to develop 
localized commuter rail. State officials plan by June to announce a decision 
in the first- ever Passenger Rail Station Improvement Grant program. 
Brookfield Community Development Director Dan Ertl said officials hope the 
proposed high-speed rail network will reinvigorate an older section of town 
that once thrived as a center of railroad activity. "It would be a large 
undertaking but an exciting opportunity," he said. Built in 1867, the depot 
along Brookfield Road is currently used as a maintenance facility for ><A HREF="http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/coOverview.nsp?coID=2267421&ID=cnniw&scategory=Transportation%3ARail">
Canadian Pacific Railway</A>. City officials hope to use the state grant -- along 
with $120,000 in required local matching funds -- to build new accommodations 
for Canadian Pacific and begin converting the old depot. The city recently 
invested about $2 million upgrading nearby roads, sidewalks and other 
facilities to make the area attractive to new business, including passenger 
rail. As proposed, the $4.1 billion high-speed rail network would link 
Milwaukee to Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis and other Midwest cities through 
a network of trains traveling up to 110 mph. Former Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, 
chairman of the ><A HREF="http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/coOverview.nsp?coID=2040708&ID=cnniw&scategory=Transportation%3ARail">Amtrak</A> board and now the U.S. secretary of health and human 
services, has been a driving force behind the initiative, which awaits a 
decision on federal funding. Brookfield would be a stopover on the leg 
extending from Milwaukee to Madison. High-speed rail is separate from other 
Amtrak service changes discussed in recent years, including a 
Milwaukee-to-Fond du Lac passenger route with a possible stop in Waukesha 
County. State lawmakers last year approved the Passenger Rail Station 
Improvement Grant as a mechanism to help communities or developers with 
"construction or rehabilitation of passenger railroad stations along existing 
or proposed rail passenger routes." Officials in Sun Prairie have their own 
idea about using the money. Ann Davis, executive director of the Sun Prairie 
Chamber of Commerce, said officials there plan to transform a former factory 
into a commuter rail station in the community's downtown area. A commuter 
rail network linking Madison with several suburbs is under study. Davis said 
some officials in Sun Prairie -- a city of about 20,000 -- are disappointed 
that high-speed rail would pass through the community without stopping, 
bringing no potential payoff for the local economy. In contrast, she said, 
the commuter rail station could provide a boost to downtown revitalization. 
"If we had an anchor like that, there's just all sorts of advantages," she 
said. The Bureau of Railroads and Harbors in the state's Department of 
Transportation is considering the Brookfield and Sun Prairie grant 
applications. Frank Huntington, head of the bureau's rail project and 
property management section, said officials are still trying to determine if 
either application is viable. He explained that Sun Prairie's proposal does 
not involve high- speed rail, which he said was a preference for the grant 
program, while Brookfield's plan to relocate a railroad company does not 
clearly fulfill the requirement for "construction or rehabilitation" of a 
rail station. Of more than 40 communities and others invited to apply for the 
grants, Brookfield and Sun Prairie were the only ones to apply before the 
March 15 deadline. Huntington said a decision is expected by June. "It 
shouldn't take too long with only two applicants," he said. 
    
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