The state and some Wisconsin counties are stuck with the $35 million tab to upgrade a freight line between Madison and Watertown now that federal high-speed train money is gone.
“The state had been waiting nearly a decade for federal money to come to Wisconsin to upgrade this freight line,” said Ken Lucht, manager of community development for Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co., the state-contracted operator of the 33-mile track. “But because it is being redirected to other parts of the country, it’s pretty clear now the state is going to have to rebuild it themselves.
Even if you use Walker's bogus numbers in the cost to operate the rail, it would still take at least five years
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And where does the fed get their money? Oh, yeah...
ReplyDeleteSo, are you saying it's better to pay all that tax money and have nothing to show for it but a continuously regressing state economy? Yeah, I just love throwing away money for the hell of it.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Wisconsin's payment at about $140M annually regardless of what doesn't come back to us from the Federal government?
ReplyDeletenonquixote
No, it's a one time deal, but there's the $140 million, the $35M from this story, possibly up to $113M in fines and take backs. And that doesn't include the lost revenue from the train, the jobs and the commerce it would have brought.
ReplyDeleteFunny, didn't the WSOR launder money into the Walker campaign? Great investment!
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