Walker's great train wreck

Well, today the Wisconsin GOP put the final touches on the wrecking of one type of Wisconsin transportation, as the Joint Finance Committee voted to walk away from the state's contract to make trains in Wisconsin. This was a project that previously would have been paid in large part through federal funds from President Obama's stimulus package, but the project was shifted to state taxpayers after the horrible, talk-radio-based decision Scott Walker made in the 2010 elections to stop the expansion of passenger rail from Milwaukee through Madison to the Twin Cities.

Well, this was the next domino to drop as a result of that Koch and WSOR-backed decision. If you read the LFB rundown of the train maintenance facility proposal, you can see how Walker's bad decision quickly FUBAR'ed into another.

At the time that the Talgo equipment was purchased in 2009 (their first cars should be ready to go in a few months), the Department [of Transportation] indicated that it was sometimes difficult to ensure that Amtrak would supply enough passenger cars in good working condition for the Hiawatha route (to Chicago). Owning the Talgo equipment would allow the state, instead of Amtrak, to control the supply and condition of passenger cars. If the Department's request is not approved and the Talgo equipment is not used to replace Amtrak equipment, the availability and condition of Amtrak equipment may continue to be an issue.

Also at the time of the purchase, the Department envisioned that the Talgo equipment could be used as part of the proposed Milwaukee to Madison extension and for possible future service extensions to the Twin Cities. Under such a scenario, the fixed costs associated with providing maintenance would have been spread over a larger number of passenger-miles than would be the case if the cars are only used on the Chicago to Milwaukee route. Consequently, limiting the use of the cars to the Chicago to Milwaukee route reduces their relative cost-effectiveness.

In other words, the Wisconsin DOT is now at the mercy of D.C.-based Amtrak when it comes to rail car maintenance and comfort, and given the way the D.C. Teabaggers are treat passenger rail, that means the quality and availability of Amtrak service could deteriorate further. This is especially distressing because the Hiawatha line is showing record ridership of nearly 2,250 rides a day and I-94 south of Milwaukee is going to be under construction for the next several years.

The second part is also key, as making the new rail cars for Milwaukee-Chicago only instead of Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison-Twin Cities means that it is now much less financially worthwhile to have that facility. And sure enough, ALEC cabin boy Robin Vos noted that having the Talgo facility would cost an extra $10 million a year because of the larger cost-per-mile that resulted from having no high-speed rail extension, and therefore, it was now not worth it to try to build a new facility. Of course, Vos conveniently left out that a lot of the extra cost is due to more frequent maintenance work at the Talgo facility vs. Amtrak, giving the rail cars a longer, more productive life (and it's done in the private sector instead of gov't-supported Amtrak, Robin! I thought you ALEC boys were all about that). It also doesn't mention the extra tax revenues that would result from people working at a Talgo facility, and he never mentioned the increased time and cost to Wisconsin consumers that will result from extra driving and congestion, This is especially short-sighted when you realize we are moving into a time when $4 gas and reconstruction of Milwaukee-area freeways are looking to become the new normal, and having that alternative of rail travel is increasingly inviting and convenient.

So what happens now? Well, DOT Secretary Mark Gottlieb (who wanted the facility to be built) says that the Talgo trains will now probably not be used, and will sit idle until some other DOT wants to buy them (productivity!). It also means that any jobs in the Menomonee Valley will soon be gone, and another part of Southeast Wisconsin won't get these manufacturing jobs, so that bit of job creation goes out the window. And as for Talgo? The LFB says

in the event of the failure to meet the terms of the maintenance agreement, the company would proceed under the dispute resolution terms of the agreement. Under that procedure, if informal negotiations fail to resolve the dispute, the a third-party expert is chosen to resolve the dispute. (In other words, it'll be hashed out in court, probably at signifcant state expense)

Another point to bring up is that the bond expenses that already went into engineering and study on the facility have to be paid back, probably through DOT funds, so we'll have to see even more money get shelled out for a project that now will yield NOTHING for Wisconsin rail passengers.

And lastly, what kind of reputation is the Wisconsin Legislature and DOT going to have now that it's gone back on its contract with Talgo. Yes, some of it was sketchy and possibly overpriced due to the exacting nature of what Jim Doyle and the DOT wanted, I'd agree with that assessment (but contrary to the J-S article, it was NOT a no-bid contract, but instead a situation where only Talgo responded to what the DOT wanted out of the rail cars. I know Sykes works for Journal Communications, but COME ON!). But that still in no way excuses Walker for his idiotic pose on stopping the train and turning down the money, precisely because it opened up a can of worms like this that compunds the error with every move.

If Scott Walker was any type of astute politican, he could have used the post-election time period to complain and say Doyle stuck him with the bill and that he wished he could do something but that Doyle "screwed" the state into having the rail line get built. And if he did that, Walker would now be in position to take credit for the new jobs created by the rail line, it'd be likely that Talgo would be building their facility in or near Milwaukee, and we'd be preparing for train service to come to Madison next year. Instead, he chose to gain talk-radio brownie points with the basement-dwelling 620 and 1130 crowds, and it will cost this state millions more than if he just his mouth and let the train happen, with fewer jobs created to boot. It has also given Wisconsin a bad reputation nationwide as a place that has a Legislature that doesn't think long-term or fulfill the terms of its contracts, so good luck having businesses get confidence in wanting to locate or do projects in this place as long as Walker and the WisGOPs are running the show.

So here's another Scott Walker decision that comes back to bite the state over time. And much Walker said to Tim Russell about the illegal campaigning that happened under Walker's watch in Milwaukee County, we can't afford to have any more screw-ups like this. Which is why we must end Walker's disastrous reign as soon as possible.