Politics and HSR

[spuwho]

One of the problems you run into when politics meets transportation planning is the next elected office holder may not buy into the strategies of the previous. When this occurs you typically get stories like this....


Two completed trainsets collecting dust in the abandoned Talgo factory.

Per Trains NewsWire;

Talgo files claim to recover Wisconsin money

MADISON, Wis. – Talgo Inc. filed a nearly $66 million claim against Wisconsin Thursday, saying the money is owed after Gov. Scott Walker acted in bad faith in deciding to abandon a high speed rail line connecting Milwaukee and Madison, the Associated Press reports. The Seattle-based arm of the Spanish company made the filing with the Wisconsin Claims Board.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice has no comment.

If the Claims Board agrees with Talgo, the Republican-controlled Legislature and Walker would also have to sign off, something unlikely to happen. If the claim is rejected, Talgo could take its case to court.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says the state did nothing wrong in backing out of the deal. "My understanding is we followed all the rules that were required," Vos sas. "There were no bad faith negotiations."

The state signed a deal in 2009 with then-Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, to purchase at least two train sets from Talgo, which were initially to be used on Amtrak's Hiawatha service between Milwaukee and Chicago before being used on the new line to Madison after it was completed.

The state also entered into a separate 20-year maintenance agreement to service the trains, a deal to provide a maintenance facility, along with an option to purchase two additional train sets.

Walker, a Republican, made his opposition of the high-speed rail line, and the $810 million in federal stimulus money to pay for it, a major part of his campaign for governor in 2010. Upon winning election, Walker rejected the federal funding, killing the project.

Talgo continued work on the trains Wisconsin purchased at a facility in Milwaukee throughout 2011. In January 2012, Talgo notified the state the train sets were ready for delivery, but the Wisconsin Department of Transportation refused to accept them. In November 2012, Talgo cancelled its purchase contract with the state.

The claim alleges the state failed to live up to its purchase agreement and that Walker repeatedly acted in bad faith to frustrate the deal. "The state, acting through the DOT, bears the responsibility for its lack of any attempt to negotiate prior to termination," the claim says.

The transportation department has not had a chance to review the complaint, says agency spokeswoman Peg Schmitt, adding that it has worked to honor terms of the original contract.

Talgo says its claim include insurance expenses, labor expenses, attorneys' fees, transportation costs, and "loss of reputation associated with the state's personnel continually defaming Talgo's professional reputation in every conceivable forum."

[SightseerLounge]

That's how those two trainsets ended up in Oregon! I don't know why Wisconsin didn't go with the California/Midwest Bilevel Corridor Car! Talgo must have had a good sales pitch! Those two optional trainsets probably wouldn't have been built because of the politics! Talgo was just probably doing anything to expand its North American market!

The Hiawatha trains were probably going to make use of the Talgo tilting tech to make the schedules a little faster!

When I first heard about the deal I thought that the fallout with Talgo and Wisconsin was going to be worse than New York and Amtrak with the Turboliners! At least, the Wisconsin Talgos found a new home! The Turboliners were just left to rot away in storage!

[SightseerLounge]

Ohio and Florida just gave up their money! Florida would have found a way to fumble the ball on a world class system! There are many disagreements on the routing of the system, but I think that Florida should have rerouted some of the system and proceeded with the HSR! Even if they didn't have the electrification and HSR trainsets, Amtrak could have made use of the right-of-way!

If Florida would have gone to true HSR, then I would have considered the startup money an investment in an interstate network of HSR lines that would have resembled what the Interstate Highway System is today!

Look at how Tampa wants AAF to come there! It might have been a case of "if you build it, they will come" with other cities in Florida! That goes back to the other article about people trusting funding that goes to transit!

[carpnter]

As long as politics are involved on either side, HSR will not be successful.  What will happen is politicians will want the routes running through their districts and stopping in every podunk town along its route which defeats the purpose of HSR.

Take for example you have a route from Jacksonville to New Orleans, it would probably make sense to have stops in Tallahassee and Mobile along the way, but you would end up with additional stops in Gulfport MS, Pensacola, Lake City, Live Oak, Marianna, and Defuniak Springs along the way and that would probably make it faster to travel by car.