Elections do have some pesky consequences.
The latest news from Wisconsin Governor-elect Scott "Jobs Killer" Walker's vendetta against any transportation system that doesn't involve roads, Roads, ROADS! is that Illinois is now aggressively pursuing both the $810 million for restoring Madison-Milwaukee passenger rail service, and the Talgo America assembly plant now on hold in Milwaukee.
And Talgo is now strongly suggesting that it's ready to pull up stakes and move to Illinois.
Next stop, over the jump...
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is going after Wisconsin's $810 million ARRA passenger rail construction allocation and on Wednesday, invited Talgo America to relocate in the Prairie State, saying (according to the AP story in Crain's Chicago Business), "Illinois will do whatever it can to lure them."
And Talgo is listening.
While I'm very happy to see my state move so quickly to take advantage of Republican/American Taliban economic folly, the longer-term health of the Midwest really demands that money stay in Wisconsin for restoring passenger rail service between Madison and Milwaukee, along with connecting through trains to Chicago. Not only would it connect those three cities, but it would be the first steps in the longer-term upgrade of Amtrak's Chicago-Twin Cities service to higher-speed trains, whether that's the National Association of Rail Passengers' plan or the true high-speed rail plan envisioned by the Midwest High Speed Rail Association.
(Same thing in Ohio, where John "Jobs Killer" Kasich is stabbing to death the "3C" project. I'm focusing here on Illinois' pickup of Wisconsin's fumble.)
Fight for the future, folks. Make sure your elected officials know you support passenger rail. The Transportation for America Coalition has a handy tool to do so, and lots of good background information. So do these sites:
California High Speed Rail Blog
The Transport Politic