Friday, August 23, 2019

Walker's killing Madison-MKE rail didn't help capital win DNC hotel business

I'm not privy to any inside information, but I'll bet Madison hotels might have had a better shot at housing some 2020 Democratic National Convention delegations and attendees if the city had an Amtrak connection to downtown Milwaukee.

From downtown Milwaukee, and within walking distance of the convention site, Amtrak runs seven daily round-trips "Hiawatha"-line trains to Chicago, but Scott Walker, for ideological and partisan reasons, derailed a similar, long-overdue Milwaukee-Madison connection which was to be built with Obama-era stimulus funding, as Wisconsinites know all too well.

These were two of the Talgo trains built in Milwaukee - - 
 
- - but which have moved on at a big loss to Wisconsin construction workers and taxpayers - - and to potential paying customers and rail-friendly businesses in the Milwaukee-Madison corridor.

For out-of-staters, here's most of the story:.
In Job Poor State, Walker Derailed Wisconsin's Emerging Rail Industry
With this update:
Talgo to keep trains, get $10 million more in settlement
And another one:
Amtrak line killed by Walker could have fed Foxconn

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