When I was an engineering student in the 1950s, my co-op employer was GM 's electromotive division, at that time the world 's largest diesel-electric locomotive manufacturer.

My lifetime interest in trains has included visits to several steam narrow-gage railroads, rail museums and other railroad attractions. In retirement, one of my hobbies is a garden railroad. I should be pro-commuter rail, right? I am not.

To paraphrase the line from the baseball movie, "Field of Dreams, " what if you build it and they don 't come? We will then have millions of dollars invested in rail bed and rolling stock that will require a draw on taxpayers if ridership doesn 't provide at least break-even revenue. A far more flexible solution is to expand the bus transit system, which can be rerouted to meet changing needs without laying down new tracks.

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/spectrum/index.php?ntid=206724&ntpid=1 (at bottom)