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Wisconsin was one of the big winners in last year's $8 billion high-speed rail competition, snagging $810 million for a new passenger line between Madison and Milwaukee. So in July, President Obama's Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, visited to hail the most ambitious transportation initiative since President Eisenhower launched the interstate-highway system. "High-speed rail is coming to Wisconsin," LaHood declared. "There's no stopping it!"
I'm all for high speed rail, but this really isn't high speed rail. The current plan is pathetic.
"The Milwaukee-Madison trains would have a top speed of 110 m.p.h. (180 km/h), a far cry from the 220-m.p.h. (350 km/h) bullet trains zipping around Europe and Asia; initially, they'd average less than 60 m.p.h. (100 km/h), which wouldn't be a particularly attractive alternative to the modest intercity drive. And the rail line itself would create only a few permanent jobs."
That is a joke. The speed limit is 65 in Wisconsin, and from my tens about tens of times of driving through Wisconsin, most people drive 75 or faster when the roads and weather are nice. To make this effective, they have to lay new tracks for high speed rail only, and use Maglev trains.
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