The Obama administration plans to quickly reallocate money designated for high-speed rail if states granted the funds reject them, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
LaHood made the announcement Monday night to hundreds of politicians, businesspeople, urban planners and rail enthusiasts gathered in New York City to assess the state of high-speed rail in the United States. The three-day conference was presented by the U.S. High Speed Rail Association (USHSR).
Wisconsin Governor-elect Scott Walker, a Republican, has called a planned $810 million high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison a "boondoggle" and is vowing to stop the project.
Ohio Governor-elect John Kasich, also a Republican, has called a planned $400 million high-speed rail line to connect Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland a "dead train."
LaHood said Wisconsin and Ohio will forfeit those federal funds if their governors reject the rail lines.
When the state funds are rejected, LaHood said Monday night, they will be redistributed "in a professional way in places where the money can be well spent," according to The Washington Post.
There are "a lot of states that would like to have access to that money," LaHood said, and reallocation will be done quickly.
Illinois Governor-elect Pat Quinn, a Democrat, already is lobbying to take Wisconsin's $810 million and the rail car manufacturing jobs currently planned at Talgo Inc.'s Milwaukee plant.
"I've already talked to the vice president about it, Vice President (Joe) Biden," Quinn told the Journal Courier of Jacksonville, Ill. "I told him that if some states, Ohio and Wisconsin turn back money on high speed rail, we've got our hand up right away. We want to make sure we use that money in Illinois."
Rail advocates sketched a vision Monday for a 17,000-mile network linking U.S. cities with electric trains capable of traveling up to 220 mph. USHSR president Andy Kunz said the national high-speed rail transportation network will cost $600 billion over the next 20 years.
LaHood says high-speed rail funds will be quickly reallocated to other states
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