Plan to Expand Rail Service Imperiled at State Level (by R Governor possible wins)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

Republicans running for governor in a handful of states could block, or significantly delay, one of President Obama’s signature initiatives: his plan to expand the passenger rail system and to develop the nation’s first bullet-train service.

In his State of the Union address this year, the president called for building high-speed rail, and backed up his words with $8 billion in stimulus money, distributed to various states, for rail projects.

But Republican candidates for governor in some of the states that won the biggest stimulus rail awards are reaching for the emergency brake.

In Wisconsin, which got more than $810 million in federal stimulus money to build a train linebetween Milwaukee and Madison, Scott Walker, the Milwaukee County executive and Republican candidate for governor, has made his opposition to the project central to his campaign.

Mr. Walker, who worries that the state could be required to spend $7 million to $10 million a year to operate the trains once the line is built, started a Web site, www.NoTrain.com, and has run a television advertisement in which he calls the rail project a boondoggle.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/us/05rail.html?_r=1&hp

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Oh yeah, let's just keep things in the 1980's - IDIOTS - while all other industrialized countries have good high speed rail!

[Bluzmann57]

1. Sorta looking forward to rail service

Between here and Chicago and St.Louis. It's fun and it'd be a heck of a lot easier than driving to see a ball game or whatever.

[nyy1998]

11. I wished they'd put one in Texas, but our dumbass governor won't even come close to touching it

[txlibdem]

17. We might get high speed rail

If slime-ball Rick can figure out how it will benefit hit campaign contributors.

Bill White is getting my vote.

[liberal N proud]

2. Isn't starting to get obvious?

These fuckers are just pandering to their corporate bosses.

BIG OIL owns this country.

[TheMadMonk]

19. Exactly. We've been looking at an East Coast high speed rail link...

...here in Australia.

The feasiblity study came back as financiall unviable. By appearances, the reason for this is twofold: 1) Assume a minimal reuse of existing rights of way, thus requiring that the lands be aquired from private hands. 2) Prices of jet fuels will not significantly outstrip basic inflation.

Now, four lane plus highways runs the full length of Our East coast. Some ludicrous percentage of our population lives within 200km of that coast. Back to the highways. Along the vast majority of that length those highways now have a median strip more than wide enough for a double rail line. Yes grades (slope) are an issue, however if the land really would cost that bloody much to aquire, then price viaducts, cuts and tunnels.

And stop looking at the pure $ value/cost alone. A totally unexpected serendipitous effect of the Ghan, (North-South rail like between Adelaid and Darwin) was the enormous social benefit it brought to the communities along the line. Communities that were not actually serviced by the line. Responsiblility for maintaining "their" bit of the line was given to those communities. With something to do, other than collect their welfare cheque, drinking, violence, all the negative social indicators fell through the floor.

For the operators of the Ghan it was an experiment well worth trying, given that the alternative would have been to pay huge "hardship" premiums to get "ordinary" people to do the job. It paid off FOR EVERONE. The operators got cheap maintenance, the government got tax revenue instead of welfare costs, and the people along the way got a bloody raison d'etre.

For more "competetive" parts of the nation, a simple solution would be to offer tax incentives to NOT USE the cheap (volumetric trade) mega contractor located in a city 1000 km away.

[gratuitous]

3. This is just ridiculous

High speed rail will make work, provide jobs, ease traffic congestion, make travel more efficient, cut down on pollution, and do it all for less money than laying and maintaining a highway with similar carrying capacity. Wisconsin should install the rail, then run Walker out of the state on it.

[Pirate Smile]

4. OMG. What total and complete f#$king idiots. My Gawd, can they not look more then a few days into

the future. What a disgrace.

[HereSince1628]

6. The Mayor of Wauwatosa doesn't want a railstop to serve the medical complex

It's only the largest medical complex in Wisconsin, and one of the largest concentrations of hospital services, and specialty clinics in the nation. Surely you DO NOT WANT A RAIL STATION -IN- THE COMMUNITY that those things are situated. MY GOD!!! That COULD BRING BROWN PEOPLE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KamaAina]

9. That's a problem all over the place

Look at maps of DC Metro and Atlanta MARTA. Note that there is no Metro station in Georgetown, someplace you would expect people to want to go, not just for the famed nightlife but for the major university. Guess why? Now look at the MARTA map and see that nothing runs into Cobb County northwest of the city proper. Cobb is Newt Gingrich country. Shockingly :sarcasm: , they refused to even join MARTA, for the very reason you describe. :grr: :banghead:

[HereSince1628]

5. The oddest thing about this is that Tommy Thompson R-Gov

desperately wanted to be transportation sec under Bush* so that he could grease the rails, so to speak, for this project.

Now, because a democrat has made the money available, it's a BAD idea. The ONLY way to make sense of this is to ask, how the can GREEN BAY FANS be FOR linking CHICAGO BEARS FANS TO VIKINGS FANS?

Stupid Rules.

[elleng]

8. Right, Stupid does rule!

But mebbe the folks will kick his a**?!

[Thor_MN]

15. I'm all for rail, but I think that the Packers at Vikings game should be played in Moorehead.

There are just too many Packers fans in Western Wisconsin that come to the Metrodome. Other than that, expanding rail is the way to go.

[JDPriestly]

7. Best way to get fast rail is to put it in in a few states.

Californians want and need it.

In Los Angeles, we already lost our streetcars to the greed of the oil companies. This time, we know what we want -- high-speed rail.

This is particularly important because we are an aging population. Air and highway travel gets harder when you get older. And parents live far from their children nowadays.

We really need fast rail.

China has it. Europe has it. Japan has it. If we don't invest in it, we will miss out. Republicans are not conservative. They are backwards.

[Javaman]

10. yeah, because only commies, nazi's and socialists ride the train!

:sarcasm:

[Downwinder]

12. I'd settle for the old Interurban. n/t

[Drale]

13. All I know

is that if Bill Brady wins here in Illinois, we are really fucked.

[madrchsod]

14. the secretary of transportation is a republican....and this is what he`s doing...

http://fastlane.dot.gov/




the irony of the republicans and taxation...

the federal , state.and local government has given the town that worships all things reagan a 3 million for a riverfront park and another million for a bus terminal.

[w4rma]

16. Republicans are insane. All of them. (nt)

[bluesmail]

18. Upthread someone wrote BigOil governs (runs) this country, well I do believe that

but in a twist of sanity Wall Street along with BigOil have CONTROL that they will never allow to be taken from them, neither by hook or crook. Wish I was wrong.