Electoral winners may block Amtrak high-speed train projects

Electoral winners may block Amtrak high-speed train projects

Guvernatorial winners from the Midwest who are critical of President Obama’s high-speed train projects may hinder their construction when they assume office.

John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin have each slammed the expensive infrastructure projects by the Obama administration.

Kasich said that the Ohio rail project connecting Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati would cost $450 million, an amount which he considers as too much to pay for compared to repairing existing roads and airports.

Walker meanwhile also claims that Wisconsin’s $810 million budget for the proposed route between Milwaukee and Madison would instead be better used for repairing bridges and highways.

Since Walker’s Republican partymates have wrested control of the House of Representatives, he may get the support he needs to cancel the deal. But the allocated funds for the project would not be allowed to be reallocated by Walker or the state of Wisconsin. Instead cancelling the contract would mean funds would be reverted to the control of the federal government which would likely transfer it to some other state willing to start a new rail project.

But other Republicans who won guvernatorial races in the Midwest do not share the plan of Walker to forego new train projects. Iowa governor-elect Terry Branstad has thrown his support for a route expansion between Chicago and other Iowa cities. Just last week, the federal government allocated $230 million to revamp the Amtrak route between Iowa City and Chicago.

Another Republican, Rick Snyder who will become governor of Michigan, backed a $150 million improvement of Amtrak service between Detroit and Chicago.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Friday November 05 2010, 5:31 AM EST. Ref: Wall Street Journal. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0