In an amazingly ironic turn of events, played down completely by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Gov. Walker has decided federal money looks kind of good right now. And hell, he made rail opponents happy when he opposed the project before, so now, who’s going to notice? Oh, and will residents have to pick up the maintenance bills for the Milwaukee to Chicago corridor?
jsonline: Less than four months after losing (REJECTING-my emphasis) nearly all of an $810 million grant, Wisconsin is again seeking federal high-speed rail money - this time to upgrade the existing Milwaukee-to-Chicago passenger line. Gov. Scott Walker … will seek at least $150 million to add equipment and facilities for Amtrak's Hiawatha line.
In a bizarre twist, some of the money that Walker is now seeking originally was allocated for the Milwaukee-to-Madison route he previously turned down. That money is available because a fellow Republican governor rejected it, as well.
Similarly, the locomotives, train sets and maintenance base also would have been covered by the earlier grant.
Where are the train opponents now? Or was it all about the petty anger over liberal Madison benefiting from the original plan?
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