Wisconsin, Ohio Governors-Elect Press Ahead to Pull the Plug on Rail
Wisconsin Governor-Elect Scott Walker has pledged to kill the planned high speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison. If current Governor Jim Doyle doesn’t beat him to it.
Doyle was instrumental in bringing $810 million of federal stimulus dollars to the state to build the rail line. Walker campaigned on a “No Train” platform, and Doyle has, apparently, had a hard time figuring out how to proceed with the rail project during the remainder of his term.
Walker Goes to the Huddle After Doyle Flip-Flops
First, the weekend before the election – with Walker polling ten points ahead of his Democratic opponent – Doyle quietly signed a deal with federal officials committing the state to spend the entire $810 million on the rail project. He didn’t make his actions public until the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel confronted him about it. The agreement could make it more expensive for Walker to pull out of the project, if he had to pay back money that had already been spent.
Then, as Walker was talking to lawyers about how to react to the governor’s actions, Doyle suddenly halted construction on the rail line. The state DOT asked contractors and consultants to “temporarily interrupt their work for a few days,” according to Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi. Work was already underway on upgrading tracks and designing a station in Madison.
The action brought into sharp relief the rail line’s potential impact on jobs. Contractors immediately started planning layoffs. Meanwhile, Milwaukee Mayor – and Walker’s opponent in the governor’s race – Tom Barrett indicated he’s considering taking legal action if the death of the rail line ends up taking out a newly renovated manufacturing plant that the city spent $3 million on. The plant was going to make the trains that would run on the line.
Walker has said that, despite the fact that the federal money covers the full cost of construction, the operating expenses are too much for the state to bear. Those are projected at about $7.5 million annually, though federal subsidies could cover the lion’s share of that as well.
The Wisconsin State Journal wrote in an editorial yesterday that it’s disappointing to see that Walker is more interested in hiring lawyers to kill the rail line than in hiring contractors to build it.
“Instead of huddling with large groups of attorneys,” the editorial says, “Walker should be looking for ways to gracefully veer from his campaign pledge and accept that it would be unwise – silly, really – for Wisconsin to reject nearly $1 billion in federal funds.” The State Journal had endorsed Walker in the election.
Ohio’s Kasich Follows Suit
Within hours of winning the Ohio race for governor, John Kasich declared that state’s high speed rail plan “dead.”
“That train is dead,” he announced. “I said it during the campaign. It is dead. Passenger rail is not in Ohio’s future.”
Plenty of other states would be happy to take the $400 million of federal money off Ohio’s hands to build rail capacity elsewhere, if Kasich doesn’t want the money. Even with a new Republican House, it’s unlikely the federal government would change the rules to allow Ohio to use the funds for anything other than passenger rail – even the freight rail he prefers.
ODOT still hopes to convince the governor-elect of the merits of keeping alive the 3C high speed rail plan to link Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. Ken Prendergast, director of the rail advocacy group All Aboard Ohio and 26-year veteran of the fight to bring rail to Ohio, also expressed hope that with more information, Kasich will change his tune.
This deeply saddens me. Why do I constantly feel like we are moving backwards in this country?
Because we are?
Yeah, the more I think about America the more I feel like we are not really one country: we have the coasts that are like Western Europe and then the middle of the country that is resigning itself to a level of development akin to that in Bulgaria…oh wait, Bulgaria is building high-speed rail and already has electrified tracks that look like Japan compared to Ohio.
Anthony,
Not Bulgaria; you’d be surprised how much they are fighting to throw off the habitual corruption they learned under the Soviets.
The US leadership seems more like South Africa’s, a club of welfare businessmen with little regard for the future.
Please! Send your high speed rail money to New York State, along with the accompanying jobs, it will be much appreciated. I’d like to pass along a big thank you to Ohioans for making such a fine choice at the ballot box! Snicker-snicker. Can you say “thinking small” right out of the box?
The high speed rails being proposed for Wisconsin and Ohio could be a unique opportunity for the states. In this instance, we have been granted federal stimulus funding specifically for this project and people don’t see the benefits of it? What about temporary manufacturing/engineering jobs, permanent jobs for the operators, and not to mention an alternative to time-consuming, gas-guzzling, rage-inducing car travel? Walker and Kasich are both trying to squash the rails, and maybe too prematurely. While some may see this as a waste of federal funding, it could boost local economies not only in the separate states, but with a proposed connection between Madison to Minneapolis and Ohio to Chicago, all states could benefit. It would be a shame to deny those kinds of connections when the government is essentially subsidizing the majority cost of the project.
State politicians need to start thinking rationally instead of thinking anti-whatever the other party is doing.
On another note, I think the Federal govt should take back the $810 million, give it directly to Amtrak and let them build it.
California will gladly take all the money for high speed rail these states reject. Trying to sustain the age of sprawl and car dependence will be the economic death many states.
At least the government is killing one unnecessary and expensive program that nobody will use. I live in Europe, trains suck. That’s why everybody out here are using airplanes and cars.
Trains belong in the 19th century.
I agree with the other commentators, these midwestern states need to be punished for electing conservative politicians. Please take the money away and give it to California and New York.
@ Alex:
Europe is a diverse collection of nations. My experience living there was different than yours. Trains were great, reliable, clean, comfortable and fairly affordable. Compared with Amtrak, there were easy-to-use programs in place that made rail travel for families with children affordable and fairly competetive with car travel. Importantly, Europeans (by and large) have more options when travelling between cities than their U.S. counterparts do. And, no country spews as much pollution (per capita) into our earth’s atmosphere as we Americans do. Isn’t that something we should work on changing?
Yeah, but you have to convince Americans that the higher taxes, on all levels of the economic stratum, are a good idea. The fact is that Americans are conditioned that government sucks. Their experience at the DMV, at the public school, on the highway, with the IRS, and in jury duty show them that. Never mind that the cable company, phone company, car dealership, and supermarket also probably suck too. They at least can choose not to pay for those services.