Subject: Trainmaker Talgo says its future in Wis. uncertain
From: "Michael Muldoon" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2010 13:15:54 -0400

*Trainmaker Talgo says its future in Wis. uncertain
*

By DINESH RAMDE
The Associated Press
Friday, November 5, 2010; 1:02 PM

MILWAUKEE -- Trainmaker Talgo Inc. said Friday it can't promise it will stay
in Milwaukee if Wisconsin scuttles its plans for a high-speed rail project
as Gov.-elect Scott Walker has proposed.

Talgo has enough work to keep it in Wisconsin through early 2012, but its
prospects beyond that are as uncertain as the rail project's future, company
spokeswoman Nora Friend said.

"Until two days ago we were telling (employees) there was definitely
potential for growth," she told The Associated Press. "Now we have to tell
them the truth, that it all depends on what the government decides to do."

Walker, the Republican who was elected governor this week, has criticized
the high-speed rail project that would link Madison and Milwaukee as a waste
of taxpayer money. He has vowed to shut down the $810 million project, which
is being funded by federal stimulus money.

Outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle on Thursday ordered contractors to
suspend work on the train line while his administration considered the
potential impact of killing the project.

Neither he nor Walker immediately returned a message Friday.

Talgo agreed to locate its Wisconsin site at a former automotive plant in
Milwaukee in March after the city agreed to invest $3 million to convert and
upgrade the facility. Talgo said at the time it planned to create 125 local
jobs, not including additional work for vendors and suppliers.

Friend said the company expected to have 40 employees by the end of the
month, but said she could no longer make any staffing predictions beyond
that.

Workers at Talgo's Milwaukee plant are currently working on two project. The
company plans to deliver a pair of train sets by next spring for a line that
runs between Milwaukee and Chicago, Friend said. She said work on another
pair of train sets for a line in Oregon should be complete by the spring of
2012.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the Democrat whom Walker defeated in the
governor's race, said Thursday the stimulus funds that would pay for
Wisconsin's project are earmarked specifically for high-speed rail. If
Wisconsin's project is derailed, he said, the money - if it's not used to
pay down the federal deficit - would most likely fund high-speed rail in
other states such as Florida or Illinois.

If the money goes to another state's train project, couldn't that still lead
to work for Talgo that would keep jobs in Milwaukee? Not likely, Friend
said.

"The thing is, states all want the manufacturers to manufacture in their
state," she said. "They would probably require it."

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said during two different visits to
Wisconsin this year that high-speed rail was a national priority and the
train could not be stopped by one state.

But the projects also have been called into question in other states and
among Republicans in Congress. U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., in line to head
the House Transportation Committee after Tuesday's election, said Wednesday
that he wants to re-examine the $10 billion in federal grants that were
handed out to Wisconsin and other states for the work.

Talgo Inc. is the Seattle-based U.S. subsidiary of Patentes Talgo SL in
Madrid, Spain.

-- 
Mike Muldoon
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
[email-masked]