MARQUETTE, MI-- State Senator Ed McBroom wants to hear from businesses having problems with rail service in the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin.
Two meetings are scheduled next week for customers who are encountering a lack of service in the region.
“Well, we have businesses reporting an unwillingness from the rail companies to work with them. Rail is going right by but the company doesn’t want to stop or wants to charge enormous fees,” McBroom says.
The Vulcan Republican says rail consolidation following a manufacturing slowdown in the U.S. meant trains were going from coast to coast and making few stops in between. He says that system isn’t serving the region’s businesses now.
“Now all of a sudden we have a number of manufacturing opportunities across the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin, and getting the rails to change the way they’ve been operating for a while is just… We’re hoping we can provide some motivation for that.”
McBroom and Wisconsin Senator Tom Tiffany want to document the problems businesses are having and present them to the rail companies. They also want to make federal officials aware of the situation.
The first meeting takes place Monday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Marquette Township Hall. The second will be held Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Central at the Rhinelander High School Auditorium.
