Madison, Wis. (WHBL) - Governor Jim Doyle says it would cost Wisconsinites 100-million-dollars and 400 immediate jobs if the Milwaukee-to-Madison passenger train is scrapped. Doyle met with Governor-elect Scott Walker on the project and other parts of their transition yesterday. Walker said before the meeting that his opposition to the train is unchanged – and while he wanted to learn more from Doyle, he didn’t expect to hear anything that would change his mind. Doyle, a Democrat, said he was putting the train project on “pause,” and handing it to the Republican Walker so can hash things out with federal officials. Also yesterday, U-S Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood rejected Walker’s idea of using the 810-million federal stimulus dollars the state received for the train for new-and-improved roads instead. LaHood said that if Wisconsin doesn’t want the train money, it will go to another state that does want it. Walker says he’ll ask Republicans in Congress to allow the train money to be used for roads. Doyle said most of the 100-million spent so far went toward upgrades for the current Amtrak line from Milwaukee-to-Chicago. Walker supports that line. The outgoing governor said he could have forged ahead and obligated hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars just before leaving office. But Doyle said it could have resulted in lawsuits, layoffs, and other disruptions – and that’s not in anyone’s best interest.
