Saturday, December 11, 2010

Woopsie! Who Pays for the ChooChoo Shed?

Seems there's some confusion out there; no wonder Doylet has disappeared.

Even though federal money for the high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison is mostly gone, plans to replace the train shed, modify the platform and make other improvements at Milwaukee’s Intermodal Station are necessary to come into compliance with the federal Americans With Disabilities Act and other related state standards, according to officials.

The shed is where the trains that run between Chicago and Milwaukee will be parked and maintained.

Vince Moschella, a deputy city attorney who has reviewed contracts between the state and federal government, said he looked narrowly at the question of whether the city could sue the state or federal government to force completion of the project.

There is nothing in the agreements between the state and the federal governments to compel either to pay for that work,” Moschella said.

The contractor got the award, but never got an executed contract out of the State. DOT is playing phone-games with the reporter (the excellent Marie Rohde).

She ought to call Doylet. I'm sure he has an explanation.

UPDATE: Per combox question, maybe Ms. Rohde should call the Mayor's office. The station was recently "upgraded"--so why weren't the ADA fixes installed at that time? HT: Deek!!

4 comments:

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

The new station was not made ADA compliant? Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot?

Dad29 said...

Seems that the station owner had a little problem with paying property tax, too.

This stinks.

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

Shocking, eh?

steveegg said...

And yet they're whining that Talgo will be shutting down the production line after 4 trains instead of 6, leaving Milwaukee with fewer train makers than before Craps and Milk Carton did their dirty deal with Talgo.