Update June 2009

Railroad depot to receive funds
By Paul Medinger

The City of Tomah.s Amtrak Station is slated to receive $509,000 in stimulus
money to improve the aging railroad depot in the center of the city.

Tomah City Administrator Jim Bialecki said Tuesday that the Amtrak Station
will receive the funding in federal railroad administration grants through the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The depot sits on a 61-acre property owned by Canadian Pacific Railway, which
has been in contact with Tomah city officials about selling the property along
both sides of Superior Avenue in the center of the city.

The Tomah Amtrak Station is one of eight stations in Wisconsin. The depot has
seen steady ridership increases throughout the past decade. According to
Amtrak, 9,477 riders got on or off a train in Tomah from October 2006 through
September 2007. The depot is also a potential stop for a proposed high-speed
passenger rail service between Chicago and the Twin Cities -- via Tomah, La
Crosse and Winona, Minn.. that could begin in the next five years. Tomah Mayor
Ed Thompson said that improvements to the depot may help make high-speed rail
a reality in Tomah.

"The high-speed rail is still in the works, and with half of a million
(dollars) in here, it looks like there is some emphasis on rail in Tomah,"
Thompson said. "This is not small money. Hopefully it means a brand new
depot."

The possibility of obtaining the railroad property has been a priority
interest of the city.s newly formed Long-Range Planning Committee since
February. Canadian Pacific is interested in selling the land and announced in
May that it had hired Vandewalle and Associates of Madison to develop a plan
and market the property. Bialecki said that improvements to the depot would be
beneficial for possible development of the land.

"I think the community will be quite pleased to hear this," Bialecki said.
"Recently, there have been some complaints regarding the facility, and I think
this will promote redevelopment in that area."

Representatives from Vandewalle and Associates will update the city's
Long-Range Planning Committee on its progress planning uses for the land in
July. Bialecki said that he will know more about plans for improvements to the
depot after the July meeting and that he expects the stimulus dollars to make
an impact.

"I think this will be a big benefit for Vandewalle," Bialecki said. "They
know, as well as we do, the impact this can have on that area. I think this
could be an anchor for development."