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Talgo to move Wisconsin train sets to Indiana
Talgo had a maintenance contract for those 2 trains. The beach is for that part of the contract.
Everyone might recall that Milw. was once the center of high speed rail, that is, high speed for the time. 1930-1940’s. Even the Milw. Rd. thought about a schedule for the Olympian Hi that would match the Super Chief.
And everyone might consider that the Milw. metro area is the only one of its size to have no rail transit service, no none of any type, in the USA.
And everyone might recall the fact that Walker was Milw. County exec. for a time period in which rail transit should have been a priority.
So, the farce has had a long run.
Once I built a Talgo,
Made it run,
Made it race against time,
Once I built a Talgo,
Now its done…
Michigan… do you need a train?
Wisconsin already paid $52 million and still doesn’t want them? DAMN. $1.857 million a piece. What a waste! So if they already paid Talgo, why are they still suing? I must’ve missed something.
Walker: Penny-wise and pound foolish. Will more than likely pay over double for goods not received. Other states ( probably Michigan) will benefit from his “idealism” while Wisconsin taxpayers foot the bill. He probably will duck and cover when pressed on his rationality.
If Michigan buys the Talgos at least we’ll have a little variety here. I’ll thank Scott Walker every time I ride them.
Walkers alignment with the Tea Party radicals should get him voted out. Their short sighted public transportation policy will bite us all in the backside one day.
Michigan wants the Talgos for now until the Bi-Levels do get here. What happens after then is speculation.probably use them for the other Michigan services or sell them…could Cascades use more Talgos later? Lol
Walker is such a putz.
Two unanswered questions:
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If Talgo was already paid for the trains, why are they keeping them and why are they suing the state?
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Wasn’t Michigan in the group of states that has ordered new bi-level cars for Midwest higher speed rail projects? Why do they need the Talgos?
Maybe Pennsylvania on the Pennsylvanian. They would probably save more running time through the mountains (and curves) than in Michigan.
Mr. Rowell:
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It’s complicated, but it was explained in other articles here.
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Michigan wants them NOW. The bilevels are at least three years away from delivery.
For the suggestion that they vote Walker out, they already had a recall and he survived. That involved much bigger issues than the Talgo trains.
Could the state government possibly try to block the movement of the trains, claiming ownership?
I remember reading about what happened back in the late 1960s when the city of Chattanooga, Tenn. physically blocked the movement of Western & Atlantic #3, the “General”, as the L&N moved it through the city.
As I recall, the custody of the locomotive was fought in the courts for several years until it was finally freed up to move to Georgia.;
You can thank Scott “Stop the Train Dead in it’s Tracks” Walker for that travesty. Idealism over common sense.
Taking Govt “Stimulus” money had HUGE strings attached. I do think IF the market is there, maybe something could be worked out, BUT, “If you build it they will come” does NOT work in passenger trains, the market drives the progress, Not the Govt.
Besides its YOUR tax dollars paying for these IF they take the money, which is Borrowed…
IF and when Passenger service is “really” Profitable, the big carriers will be FIRST in line…( I am a passenger train user FYI)
Guy, it’s not the purchase price. Maintenance on Talgos is the the real cost. They make the current equipment cheaper to run.
The Talgo deal was absolutely horrible. Wisconsin has paid the full amount for the cost of the 2 train sets so they’re not going anywhere. The sweetheart, no-bid service contract that former Gov. Doyle dished out to his Spanish darlings that wined-and-dined him, killed our local Milwaukee train building company. It then put Wisconsin taxpayers on the hook for a $10 million/ year service contract for 20 years costing a total of $200 million and that shouldn’t be renegotiated??!!
I can understand why the author of this article did not put his name in the by-line. This is terrible reporting TRAINS! The federal stimulus rejection didn’t immediately put the state in breach of the contract or have to lead to it. The service contract could still have been stupidly funded. However, a bill which Gov. Walker supported giving the non-American company the service contract, was killed by the legislature which effectively put it in breach. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the Spanish sweethearts of Doyle were going to get 5.1 million/yr. more than Amtrak for servicing the units and approximately 5 million/yr. for their new facility (That bankrupted the local company and their buildings that were already here!!). If the Spanish wish to return the state’s money fine. If not, there’s going to be a new service agreement or those trains aren’t moving!
I worked for the state back in 2010 when Walker and his buddies took over. Walker’s brilliant move of turning down the Federal Dollars had nothing to do with the trains. Scotty needed to pay back the road building contractors and operating engineers for “supporting” him during the election. He thought he could talk the Feds into letting him take the $810 million and use it for roads instead. The Feds may not always know what’s going on, but they sure know the difference between a train and an automobile. Didn’t get the money for the roads and Wisconsin ended up paying big bucks out of their own pocket to close up everything. I say good luck to Talgo in Michigan and maybe someday Wisconsin will see the light at the end of the tunnel
I will never, never vote for Mr. Walker as long as I live. A state that could use a better passenger service and hear we are with a ------ up our —. Thanks Walker.
I will never, never vote for Mr. Walker as long as I live. A state that could use a better passenger service and hear we are with a ------ up our —. Thanks Walker.