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Wisconsin governor: Freight rail vital to Wisconsin economy
Not mentioned in the story about the gov’s speech, was the increased severe wear & tear, outright damage caused by farm and mineral trucks, nor the extended travel time I and we endure when trucks go through the gears in heavy traffic, nor the impacts and damage they cause in “accidents.”
Had pavements and bridges been laid down for 5000 lb vehicles in the publicly financed road network and, any road for up to 86,000 lb vehicles had to be privately (read: entreponeur, LLC, company, farm, mine, other industry) financed on separate routes from the automobile lanes and then maintained by the separate outfits, would there be any, and would Guse have any fodder? Any cud?
And with so many railroad right-of-ways legally securely and in place…they would influence capital going into building truck/bus exclusive highways; pavement thick and substantial…NIMBY and eminent domain issues?.. Best bridge and tunnel locations taken, and then access on 5000 lb capacity roads to the 86000 lb vehicle’s customers.
Trailways and Greyhound on private right of ways? Sure!
The milk’s been spilled, don’t waste any Kleenex.
Mr. Guse needs to get out more often and get some fresh air inside his narrow, closed mind. The Chicago to Milwaukee rail passenger corridor is a great success story. Even Governor Walker supports it. The state of Wisconsin covers two-thirds of the operating costs of the trains. The Corridor started out with 3 daily trains 25 years ago and is now up to 7 daily trains. And the trains are full most of the time with standing room only.
Ironically most of the passengers who ride the Hiawatha Corridor these days look like good middle class Republican businesspeople. These are people who have chosen to ride the subsidized train rather than flying the subsidized airlines or driving on the incredibly congested subsidized highways. And you can text and send emails on the trains something you are no longer allowed to do behind the wheel of your car Mr. Guse.
The route is now handling close to 900,000 passengers annually and is one of the most profitable Amtrak routes in the U.S. If this is your definition of failure Mr. Guse I just cannot imagine what your definition of success is.
Governor Scott Walker has nothing against railroads as long as the railroads are for improving the economy and creating jobs, directly or indirectly, without massive taxpayer subsidies to compensate for the losses. The freight railroads have clearly demonstrated they are willing to take care of themselves and will create jobs when allowed to expand, as needed.
Government owned and operated disasters such as Amtrak on the other hand do the exact opposite. Because the taxpayers are forced to pay higher taxes to support Amtrak’s guaranteed losses, they have less income to spend on things they would normally choose to spend money on. Therefore those businesses which would normally have money spent at their establishments by the taxpayer need to avoid losing money and go bankrupt. To do this, they downsize, lay off, and the downward spiral begins. Plus Amtrak does little to improve the traffic situation on the highways. If it did, then why is the New Jersey Turnpike a parking lot? For that matter, so is the parallel Garden State Parkway, which oddly enough, has a full time truck ban in place and is still parked tight. Same goes for other major roads running parallel to Amtrak in the corridor. Why? Because passenger trains lack the ability to go where people need to go. Always did. Always will. It is the nature of the beast. Now if Amtrak requires a massive subsidy in a very high density location such as New Jersey, how can it possibly be expected to not require a massive subsidy in a low density location such as Wisconsin. Last time I checked, there are no real farms in New Jersey within Amtrak’s corridor. Wisconsin on the other hand is full real farms between Milwaukee and Madison. Provided you know where to look.
So is passenger rail but Walker’s too blind to see it.
I wish this governor would think the same as passenger rail as it also removes vehicles from the highways. But he’s too blinded by tea party ideology (e.g. Religious extremism) to see it.
Scottie Walker continues to be the big idiot that all of us in Wisconsin know. Moving passengers is just as important. But Scottie and his side kick Robin Voss both got rid of the Kenosha Racine Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail program. He also of course got rid of high speed rail. Now Milwaukee’s station is going to be modernized without the help of the high speed money. Of course the two trains sets still set and court action is soon to start. And teachers know some of the money to give to the railroads came from the loss of teacher benefits. Tommy Thompson at least understood the importance of Amtrak and high speed rail. So Scottie, go pound sand, once an idiot, always an idiot.
I agree with Mr.Guse, and I am all for passenger rail service if it is self supportive. When will this madness end? There just is not any money for it! Why can’t our public leaders live within their means, so to speak with our tax dollars? What Governor Walker did with the High Speed rail down there, it was the right thing to do- period. We as responsible tax payers and citizens believe that. I would love to see and take that train, but NOT and the taxpayers dime.
Guse: if Wisconsin is full of farms, why is their cheese so horrible? It is worse than the stuff made in WA and OR and VT. Maybe it is only made for headdresses for the Commies in Madison. New York State is the only cheese to eat! No ‘frack’ pollutants in the milk, but no jobs on the southern tier… Mario loves youse! Sheldon Silver, too.
Jerry: are you incarcerated in Joliet, with all the Illinois ‘big wigs’? Just wondering. Did you ever look at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s political makeup? It would make O’Bama’s cabinet look like John Birchers. Remove yo’ cranium from…
Gov. Walker said that “Freight rail is vital to Wisconsin’s economy”. But he’s too dense to understand that passenger rail is also vital to the economy of a state, particularly for a capital city that has no rail passenger service, now thanks to him (ironically, after running for election on a pro-business platform). Had he not killed the HSR project three years ago, Madison would surely be close to having a rail connection to Chicago (which would be useful during the frequent winter snowstorms when highways become impassable and many planes are flown south ahead of time to avoid the storm). There surely can’t be many other US state capitals lacking rail passenger service.
Less Walker is better for the Badger state. Thanks for killing high-speed rail to the state capital. Walker allowed political bias to get im the way of what is best for the citizenry of Wisconsin. Sad.
Oh, by the way Mr/Ms Carlin, I would suggest you have some one edit your post for you and re-post what you were really trying to say. The only thing I got out of it was a lot of confusion…
It’s easy to blame the governor when you don’t have to take the same heat he does. The high speed rail money was an Obama election trick. There was not enough money to do the job and the state of Wisconsin would have been stuck to finish it. The only hope for it was that it was a start with more to come. But the more was going to be placed squarely on the backs of Wisconsinites and that would have meant a less that reliable program.
High Speed rail will never be a reality in this county until the same political support is given to the authority that builds the line and operates them as the airlines currently have which is basically carte blanche. We need to take a lesson from the French and Japanese. They have been successful for years.
I would disagree; freight traffic is much more important than passenger. Freight traffic not only pays for itself but it used to have to subsidize passenger service as well. Freight removes many trucks from the highway, as long as it is more economical than trucks, but passenger does not remove the equivalent number of personal vehicles. That is why passenger service can’t even break even in most cases, ie…trains don’t go when, where and in as timely a manner as people want to go and certainly not cheaper than they can drive. When passenger services pays for itself, by all means have it, but until then no go.
Wow…sometimes I can’t believe the comments I read here. Why does everything have to turn political? Can’t anyone comment on the topic at hand. Freight rail is very important to Wisconsin and glad to see that Governor Walker is embracing it. The Badger State has done a reasonable job over the last 33 years to preserve the rail network in the state. If you folks recall, Wisconsin did purchase over 300 miles of Milwaukee Road trackage in southern WI during the early 1980’s and is now operated by WSOR and is a real success story! As a former Wisconsinite I do wish they were a bit more aggressive in development of passenger rail beyond the Hiawatha corridor. MKE-Madison and MKE-Green Bay has always been discussed but nothing has happened (although $79 million in capital funding was set aside for improvements) not to mention a second train in the CHG-Twin Cities corridor.
Jessie L Harrup Jr., say what you posted claiming passenger trains aren’t viable. For your information, the more service, the more people will ride. Airlines don’t pay for themselves. With out the subsidies they receive your plain ticket will cost a fortune. autos and buses travel on roads that TAX supported. You seemingly can’t wrap your brain that people WANT trains. You are sounding like the idiot savant
from Illinois.
My comment did not deal with the relative importance of passenger and freight, as has been mischaracterized here, but rather that both are important (note my use of the word “also”). The irony is that Walker ran on a pro-business platform but once in office he immediately made it impossible for Madison business men&women to look forward to productive travel time while heading to the capital of the Midwest (Chicago) in the future. And having had relatives in Madison for decades I fully understand the importance of having an all-weather transport mode, which was unavailable in my last visit to that city when a snowstorm occurred, preventing for several days any long-distance travel (exiting Madison) for tourists from the US and Europe as well. So I thus have no positive view of a Governor who would arbitrarily limit the choice of passenger travel modes to and from his capital city.