Train Of No Thought

Republicans don't like trains very much, apparently.  Even if you give them the trains and pay for building the tracks, they freak out at the small maintenance costs and vow to kill the project.

In Wisconsin, which got more than $810 million in federal stimulus money to build a train line between Milwaukee and Madison, Scott Walker, the Milwaukee County executive and Republican candidate for governor, has made his opposition to the project central to his campaign.

Mr. Walker, who worries that the state could be required to spend $7 million to $10 million a year to operate the trains once the line is built, started a Web site, NoTrain.com, and has run a television advertisement in which he calls the rail project a boondoggle. “I’m Scott Walker,” he says in the advertisement, “and if I’m elected as your next governor, we’ll stop this train.”

Similar concerns are threatening to stall many of the nation’s biggest train projects. In Ohio, the Republican candidate for governor, John Kasich, is vowing to kill a $400 million federal stimulus project to link Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati by rail. In Florida, Rick Scott, the Republican candidate for governor, has questioned whether the state should invest in the planned rail line from Orlando to Tampa. The state got $1.25 billion in federal stimulus money for the project, but it will cost at least twice that much to complete.

And the nation’s most ambitious high-speed rail project, California’s $45 billion plan to link Los Angeles and San Francisco with trains that would go up to 220 miles per hour, could be delayed if Meg Whitman, a Republican, is elected governor. “In the face of the state’s current fiscal crisis, Meg doesn’t believe we can afford the costs associated with new high-speed rail at this time,” said Tucker Bounds, a campaign spokesman. 

I can see Florida having reservations about the cost.  I can really see California shelving this.  But, really, Wisconsin?  You're getting $810 million to build a rail corridor from Madison to Milwuakee and you're throwing it away because of a $7-$10 million maintenance cost?  That's chump change to a state.

It's not like the train's going to be free, folks.  You can do things like charge ticket prices to riders to cover the maintenance.  Same thing here in Ohio, I know plenty of folks who would use a rail corridor from Cincy to Dayton to Columbus to Cleveland just to avoid I-71 traffic to get to sporting events.  Hey, and building the rail corridor would create jobs as well as jobs for maintaining the trains.  Ohio would be getting a pretty healthy chunk of federal money for the project too, some $400 million.

But no, apparently if John Kasich is elected Governor, he's killing the project.  Fair enough...that means another state will get the money, use the money, take the jobs, and take credit for it.  Might want to write him a thank-you note.

I can't help but think that if a Republican President was behind this $400 million, John Kasich would be snapping it up and talking about Ohio jobs.  Seems to me rail travel is more egalitarian from a "paying directly for the infrastructure you use" viewpoint than auto travel, and I'm betting it's better for the environment from an emissions standpoint too.

I'm pretty sure 16 Ohio counties could use the jobs for building this thing as well.  Kasich wants to miss the train, it seems.  (Casinos are okay, however.  Go fig.)