[northbay]

one state's loss is california's gain:

CA HSR to get up to $624m from other states' rejected HSR cash
Published Thursday, December 9, 2010, by the New York Times

More U.S. Rail Funds for 13 States as 2 Reject Aid

By Michael Cooper

Ohio and Wisconsin's loss of $1.2 billion in federal stimulus money for rail
projects will be California, Florida and 11 other states' gains, federal
officials said on Thursday.

Ohio and Wisconsin were among the biggest winners of federal stimulus money this
year to build new rail lines in their states; officials in both states had
lobbied aggressively for the money in the hopes that it would create thousands
of jobs and improve their transportation systems.

But that all changed last month when both states elected Republican governors
who vowed to kill the train projects, arguing that they were boondoggles that
would leave their states on the hook for subsidies each year to operate the
trains.

Now both states, which have been hit hard by the economic downturn, are losing
the money. The federal Department of Transportation announced Thursday that it
was taking back the $810 million that had been awarded to Wisconsin to build a
train line from Milwaukee to Madison, and the $385 million that was awarded to
Ohio to build a train line linking Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland. The money
will be redistributed to 12 other states, with the biggest winners being
California and Florida, which are building high-speed trains.

"High-speed rail will modernize America's valuable transportation network, while
reinvigorating the manufacturing sector and putting people back to work in
good-paying jobs," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement
announcing the redistribution of the rail money. "I am pleased that so many
other states are enthusiastic about the additional support they are receiving to
help bring America's high-speed rail network to life."

Neither Ohio nor Wisconsin were getting high-speed trains. They were simply
getting new train routes that the federal government hoped would form the basis
of a new national network of trains, which could eventually be upgraded to
high-speed rail. But the new governors-elect questioned who would ride the new,
not-terribly-fast trains.

...

Mr. Walker worried that the new $810 million train route would leave the state
with subsidies of $7 million to $10 million a year to run the trains.
Exasperated train supporters, who saw a lucrative jobs project and an
environmentally friendly way to travel, complained that Mr. Walker's position
was analogous to turning down a free new car, simply because it would cost money
for gas and insurance.

John Kasich, the governor-elect of Ohio, declared "this train is dead" after
being elected, and mocked the slow speeds the train was expected to travel.

Both men expressed interest in using the stimulus money to fix and maintain
highways and roads in their states instead. But the money was part of $8 billion
in the stimulus bill that was directed for building trains and paving the way
for high-speed rail in the United States.

Now they are about to find out if the electorate that supported their antirail
platforms will still support them, now that it has cost their states $1.2
billion.

This fall, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Republican, killed a
long-planned commuter train tunnel under the Hudson River that had received
pledges of $3 billion from the federal government. He cited concerns about the
strapped state's share of the project's rising costs. Now the federal government
is weighing how to redistribute that money to other transit projects, and has
asked New Jersey to return the approximately $271 million already spent on the
project.

The biggest winners of Ohio and Wisconsin's money were California, which will
receive another $624 million on top of the nearly $3 billion it has received so
far toward the construction of a high-speed train from Los Angeles to San
Francisco, and Florida, which will get another $342 million on top of the
roughly $2 billion it has received to build a high-speed train between Orlando
and Tampa.

Florida's governor-elect, Rick Scott, a Republican, has said he would take
another look at the numbers to see if that train is still viable -- at only 84
miles, the route is not considered long enough by many rail experts to be
optimally served by high-speed rail.

The other states that will get Ohio and Wisconsin's money will be Washington,
which will get up to $161 million; Illinois, which will get $42.3 million; and
Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oregon
and Vermont, which will all get less than $10 million.

Wisconsin will be able to keep about $2 million for work on its Hiawatha line,
which Governor-elect Walker has said he supports.

source: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/newr...reply&t=180558