In an ironic twist in Baraboo, Wisconsin on Wednesday, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker touted the benefits of rail and their importance to business. Why is this ironic one may ask? Well, this is the same Governor who campaigned on derailing the proposed high-speed train line from Madison to Milwaukee, which would have connected Chicago to Madison via the existing Hiawatha line between Chicago and Milwaukee, while also repairing miles of decrepit freight rail, as well.
Let's do a quick recap: Former Governor Jim Doyle put the ball in Walker's court when he was elected. Doyle chose to allow the Governor-elect to decide the fate of the project when he would take the reigns. Walker campaigned on ending the rail, calling it a "waste of taxpayer money" and a "symbol of excessive spending by the federal government". Walker also complained that the estimated subsidy for the line each year would be somewhere between $1 million and $8million annually. In response, former Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz offered to kick in some money towards the cost, and there were several proposals for the federal government to pick up a portion of the bill. Wisconsin could have also used money from other federal transportation grants to fund the subsidy. Either way, the subsidy, even were it the high number of $8 million would have been something like 1% of the overall transportation budget for the state. Nevertheless, Walker did, indeed, kill the project. Luckily, Ray LaHood allowed the state to keep the $9 million it had already spent on projects related to the rail upgrade.
Plenty of Wisconsinites were disappointed, since almost 5000 initial jobs were lost, as well as potentially hundreds of additional jobs from the economic boost the new rail line would provide. (Quick note: Would Walker have allowed the line to proceed, he would have doubled the paltry job gains he has seen in his first 16 months in office to roughly 10,000 jobs. Still pathetic, but we will take what we can get around here.) Since killing the train, the State of Wisconsin has been obligated to buy two trains from Talgo, who relocated to Milwaukee solely because of this project, at a cost of $48.7 million. The State has also paid $2.5 million in spare parts costs, almost $5 million for maintenance of the two purchased trains (annual contract was for 20 years at $5.8 million per year), $7 million on consulting to a foreign firm, $12 million on a temporary maintenance base for Talgo, and $2 million on planning for a new, permanent maintenance base. But here's the real kicker: The $49 million spent on trains was all for nothing. Since the State has refused to pay for a permanent maintenance base at a median cost of $60 million, the trains are unable to be utilized. Ever. So there goes the $49 million, along with the additional $2 million spent on planning and the $12 million already spent on the temporary maintenance base. All of these monies would have been covered by the $800 million-plus grant that Walker turned down. That's not even including the likely legal challenges the state will face in the future from Talgo, since the State is probably guilty of not operating and negotiating in good faith. Terrific. The only way to recoup any of the costs to taxpayers is to sell the two trains. Yeah, good luck with that. Oregon has already declined. Its not like you can put these trains in a warehouse, let em sit a few years until someone needs them, and then sell them. They might as well turn them into a sweet Talgo Train Diner. One for Madison. One for Milwaukee. At least we could make some money of that shit, right? Let me throw one more thing out there. Talgo will now be closing its doors in June of this year since there is no longer any work. The closing of the plant, as well as the scrapping of the maintenance base, will cost Wisconsin nearly another 100 jobs. Follow me below the crooked squiggle thing for the rest of this depressing saga.
Read More
