However, Ed Ellis, president of the Chicago-based Iowa Pacific Holdings, a private passenger rail service company that operates in nine states, said he knows nothing of the meeting and that no one from his company, Metra or Wisconsin & Southern Railroad will be involved with the meetings on the train.

The Milwaukee Road, Ellis noted, no longer exists.

Ellis said his company is simply running the excursion train. However, if interested parties want to talk about passenger rail once they board in Madison, he “welcomes the conversation.”

“I have not spoken with Gary Goyke or All Aboard Wisconsin,” Ellis said. “I don’t want to make anyone mad in Wisconsin or Illinois. I just don’t want to be included in a coalition that I wasn’t asked to join.”

Goyke said he was simply acting on the request of Clark Johnson, a rail enthusiast who is a board member of Iowa Pacific Holdings.

“I did what they asked me to do. I’m not trying to mislead anybody,” Goyke said. “I have no desire to give anyone any negative information.”

Goyke and Mike McCoy, president of All Aboard Wisconsin, said details of the operation — including route, costs and potential ridership — have not been formulated.