Down the rat-hole, at high speed. And ooooohhhhh, so many jobs!!
Wisconsin will receive more than $800 million to build a high-speed rail line carrying passengers between Milwaukee and Madison at 110 mph and recapture a piece of a regional rail system largely abandoned six decades ago.
Looks nice, until you get to the rest of the story.
The work to upgrade the tracks to accommodate the high-speed trains from downtown Milwaukee to the Dane County Regional Airport is projected to cost roughly $651.8 million. Doyle sought $817 million in federal funds to cover contingencies and inflation.
The money ends there.
"There have been discussions along this line for 20 years at least," said Craig Thompson, executive director of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin. "It's very expensive, and we've been having trouble finding money to meet existing needs." The challenge in the future will be to find the money for ongoing operations of the high-speed rail system, Thompson said
Our Governor claims that this will create 13,000 jobs.
How? Where?
So if that number of 13,000 is actually true (which I think is nearly impossible), it will cost the tax payers over $62,000 per job. How long before we recoup those losses? Not to mention the loss we will take each year on the operation of the great choo-choo train.
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