A proposed commuter rail project in southeastern Wisconsin aims to connect dozens of communities throughout the region while delivering a projected $1.5 billion in economic impact.
That’s according to Jacqulynn Honl, chief operating officer for Transit Innovations LLC. For the last dozen years, this Milwaukee-based company has been working toward the creation of the E-Way Regional Commuter Rail System, a network of commuter stations and associated real estate development built along more than 100 miles of existing railroad infrastructure.
Honl spoke yesterday during a meeting of the Milwaukee Rotary Club, where she touted the potential for the project to benefit residents in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, Kenosha and Washington counties. She said the project has a 10-year timetable for building out the network, though she said that will be affected by how community-level work goes.
“It connects communities to educational and medical campuses, it provides access to the region’s entertainment districts as well as access to employment centers, thus creating an opportunity of equity through transportation, and ultimately a catalyst for economic development,” she said.
She said the company is pursuing federal transit authority grants dedicated for commuter rail projects, noting its business model leverages private funding along with public investment “to ensure the success of this project.” Honl said the key to that success is achieving sustainable profitability without subsidization.
“Because we operate privately, without the burden and the cost of public pensions — which typically consume about 45% of public transit budgets — the E-Way can be sustained by ticket sales, parking revenues, last-mile connector revenues and advertising revenues,” she said.
That involves leasing existing rail infrastructure from railroads, which includes ongoing maintenance for bridges, track and right-of-ways, she said. The company is also moving forward with acquiring and remediating contaminated, abandoned sites to redevelop into the E-Way stations.
This network currently has two existing commuter stations, according to a map at the company’s website, while other planned locations are distributed along rail lines in the area.
Transit Innovations has conducted ridership studies over the past decade that identified a “desire for year-round daily ridership” on the system, Honl said.
“The E-Way is not just a transit system,” she said. “The E-Way system alone is an $800 million-plus commuter rail network of rail infrastructure and station development, with an additional proposed $500 million-plus of real estate development.”
The company is currently working on a job creation study through Milwaukee advisory firm Baker Tilly to gauge the impact on the regional workforce. Honl said the network would connect employers throughout the region with workers, ranging from downtown Milwaukee to Waukesha, New Berlin, Oak Creek, Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport and other employment hubs.
“Access to labor is key,” she said. “Communities need labor for growth. Communities that grow do thrive, and communities that thrive are here and better 100 years from now. And that is exactly what this economic development project is all about.”
Honl says the project has “a wide range of support” from local counties and municipalities to proceed.
“They have applauded our efforts, and they encourage us to finalize our ridership revenue studies, to accomplish the necessary equity raise for the acquisition of our station sites, and to secure the rail access leases,” she said.
Watch the video at WisconsinEye.
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