WisDOT offers Madison station plan

Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation Tuesday unveiled a $12 million plan for a passenger rail station in the state capital, Madison, to be used by future regional and presumed higher-speed passenger rail services.The state and Madison officials are negotiating a cost-sharing agreement for the station’s construction. WisDOT spokesman Paul Trombino says the state would own and operate the station.The $12 million in funding comes for a $24 million appropriation to build passenger rail stations between Madison and Milwaukee. About $5 million has been allotted each to Watertown, Oconomowoc, and Brookfield, the latter a Milwaukee suburb, but plans for a station at Oconomowoc have been dropped.Milwaukee is served by Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service trains and the Empire Builder; Madison has no passenger rail service.