Trians to No Where : The ObamaTrain Derailed

What did Wisconsin and Ohio know about the 'high speed trains' that Illinois and California don't? Simple, when the government gets involved with any small or big project, it always ends with huge overruns and more taxes, that is, more financial problems for the state which right now would be catastrophic. The other states don't seem to understands.

And as this article points out, and Wisconsin's governor Scott Walker knew all along, they aren't high speed and the after construction costs will drive the state into more debt. Walker knew that the federal government was lying about the over-all costs of the 'not so high speed' train project which got him elected. Whoa, the people listened and believed him, a Conservative with a message that even the liberals in Wisconsin could understand.

But the other states that see this just for the federal funds to fix their deficits are headed in the wrong direction and, in the near future, higher taxes and still more debt, all of which they can't endure.

Not So High-Speed Trains
Source: Marc Scribner, "Obama's State of the Union Address: More of the same on Trains," OpenMarket.org, January 26, 2011.

In recent years, Americans' heads have been filled with images of the future -- a future where they will be able to take trains at speeds exceeding 150 miles per hour the same way they have heard citizens of developed European and Asian countries can dart across continents. Yet this allusion to a supposedly more cosmopolitan future in transport rests on a shaky foundation of programmatic sluggishness, high price tags and political mislabeling, according to OpenMarket.org.

One of the proposed high-speed rail corridors the president mentioned was the seven-state Midwest Chicago Hub Network. Despite President Obama's optimism, the situation on the ground is quite bleak.

Wisconsin and Ohio recently elected governors who campaigned heavily against high-speed rail investment in their states, and the Obama administration pulled stimulus funds for the projectsout of those two states. This move effectively takes Minnesota service off the table as well.

It is also quite misleading to refer to this as high-speed rail, at least in the sense that the Chicago Hub Network somehow compares with Chinese and European high-speed passenger rail, says OpenMarket. In those countries, trains can travel at speeds exceeding 150 miles per hour.
In contrast, "high-speed" trains in the Midwest will eventually be able to top out at 110 miles per hour for very limited stretches.

Nor will the Midwest trains ride on electrified railways, which is the only practical method of achieving speeds exceeding 150 miles per hour.