MADISON, Wis. Lawmakers who represent the City of Milwaukee are appealing to a Spanish train company planning to make two trains for Wisconsin to locate their manufacturing facility in the states urban center, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
The train maker, Talgo, is expected to make two 14-car train sets to be used on Amtrak's Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha Service, which will cost the state $47 million.
The train sets include the cab car that powers the train. The order will create about 80 manufacturing and maintenance jobs, with the possibility the company could add more if other states buy its trains, Gov. Jim Doyle has said.
Talgo hasnt chosen a location for its assembly and maintenance facility, but Doyle said it was likely to be located in south-central or southeastern Wisconsin. Antonio Perez, chief executive officer and president of Talgo Inc., the company's U.S. subsidiary, said it has scouted locations in Milwaukee and Janesville.
State Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee) and a dozen other Milwaukee-area lawmakers sent a letter to Perez urging the company to use the Super Steel plant in Milwaukee, Richards said in a news release Wednesday. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has said he would push hard to win the plant.
The City of Milwaukee is the economic and transportation hub of the state of Wisconsin and would be perfectly suited to minimize transportation costs of the assembled Talgo train sets, the letter says. Talgo train sets could be shipped to the Port of Milwaukee, and upon final assembly, the sets would be placed on the Amtrak Hiawatha line at the nearby Milwaukee Intermodal Station.
The letter also touts the size of the Milwaukee labor market.
Milwaukee has the resources and infrastructure to make the assembly process of these trains the most beneficial for both Talgo and Wisconsin, Richards said in a statement.
(This item appeared in the Journal Sentinel July 30, 2009.)
Amcrak has been using the Talgo trainsets around the Northwest for the last 15 years or more. Think Seattle does the maintainence on them but don't know for sure. I know they sound real cool at 60-75 MPH from a jointed track rollby. Once again I need to figure out how to get some of my rr videos on the net. I took a chance one evening and placed my video camera on the ties for a "run over" shot with an Amtrack Talgo passenger train. Turned out pretty cool and my video camera was not harmed.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
I tell you my heart was pounding placing a $1500 camera for a train to destroy. Time is made for technology to advance. That $1500 camera is an antique now. You can get a hard drive camcorder with 49X zoom for less than $300 these days. Actually most digital cameras have video capability that would put my old specially designed camera to shame.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
