Seeing Amtrak’s Beech Grove Shop.
INDIANAPOLIS–The Cardinal, Amtrak’s train #50, left Chicago on time late Thursday afternoon and, despite running for what seemed like 20-30 minutes at slow speeds leaving Chicago, arrived here 16 minutes early. At least a dozen NARP members were on board coming here to Indianapolis for the Fall meeting being held on Saturday and Sunday.
The highlight of yesterday–Friday–and probably the highlight of the entire three days here was a lengthy tour of Amtrak’s Beech Grove Maintenance Facility. First of all, it’s huge. There are a half dozen buildings, each of which is the size of several football fields. In those buildings, workers are rebuilding diesel locomotives, restoring wrecked rail cars, and refurbishing coaches and sleepers. No job too big; no job too small.
Of considerable interest to everyone were the two Talgo train sets parked in front of the facility. These beauties, ordered by the former Wisconsin governor, Jim Doyle, were to be paid for with stimulus money from Washington and they were intended to run on a new rail line connecting the State Capital at Madison (also the home of the University of Wisconsin) with Milwaukee.
Unfortunately, the current governor, Scott Walker, who defeated Governor Doyle in the 2010 election, disdainfully refused the money … notwithstanding the fact that the building and maintaining of these train sets in Milwaukee would bring hundreds of millions of dollars to the community every year.
So Wisconsin never got the rail link to Madision and the train sets, brand spanking new and ready to roll, are sitting at the front of the property in Beech Grove waiting for a buyer. Talgo sued and of course they won, Wisconsin taxpayers will have to fork over almost $10 million as a result … and Talgo gets to keep the trains! That’s a helluva legacy, Governor Walker.
Did you even read the news article you linked to?
Your last paragraph is not only factually incorrect, it is not even a good op-ed.
Well, here’s my “opinion.” By the way, I actually did my research on the government hand-outs, the cash for trains deal, and the ensuing lawsuit.
Facts are that Wisconsin has(d) the opportunity to get back all, or nearly all, of the money they settled for with the sale of the trains. Seems there is not a big interest in buying commuter trains these days — specifically the ugly Talgos! Who woulda figured?
Taking federal government handouts at the expense of taxpayers in other states, (whom would have little to nothing to gain by funding this rail corridor between Madison and Milwaukee (two national level booming economies there,)) is somehow disdainful to you? I am thinking that Gov. Walker and more than a few of those who voted him into office could sleep better at night knowing that they were not ripping off American taxpayers. I think that should be just a part of the legacy that Gov. Walker will be remembered for.
If you want a government subsidized railway in a socialist country, try the rails in Europe. Amtrak has failed miserably despite millions of dollars being thrown it’s way here in the US. Amtrak is currently spinning off many of it’s money losing routes to private companies, such as Iowa Pacific, (who is also receiving public funding to maintain the current routes.)
For years the rail roads cried foul when the federal government taxed them and didn’t help with the building and funding of their roads (as they do with the federal interstate system)…Now, only the big freight RRs hold their heads high and see profit. Do you suppose it’s because they didn’t bow to our already too big and over-reaching government?
Do we want a national system of passenger gains or not? That’s not going to happen without government support. The partisan ideology is easy to grasp because it over simplifies: private enterprise always good; government subsidy always bad. Capitalism always good; socialism always bad. Let us not forget–however convenient that might be–that the “over-reaching” government gave hundreds of thousands of acres to the freight railroads for their rights-of-way. Amtrak has not failed. But it has not succeeded because an over-reaching Republican-dominated Congress has demanded specific services and set preposterous goals while continually reducing a pitifully small subsidy. The question is, do millions of tax-paying American citizens across the west and midwest have a right to public transportation? Because that’s the role Amtrak fills in huge areas of country.
Why should rail get a different treatment than, say, the airlines? Or the highway users?
Or should those be privatized as well? It’s an idea, few countries have done so (only Japan springs to mind), but I guess it’s feasible. At least, if you don’t mind large chunks of the country loosing out any transportation whatsoever, a rural highway is just as much a money loser as a rural railroad, and regional airports are even worse, but take the service away, and these rural communities will most likely die out, straining the urban and suburban areas even more.
I believe a government is there to take care of ALL of its people, and to create the conditions they need to thrive. Therefore, you need mobility solutions, including rail, not just for passengers, but also for freight.
Disclaimer: I am a European in a ‘socialist’ country, and what’s more, working for the national railway company, and I take pride in the fact we deliver many hundreds of thousands of people to their destination every day, and are a part of the solution to the gridlock on our roads and opening up all parts of the country for tourism and work.
An enlightened point of view articulated very well indeed. Thank you!!