{"id":1224920,"date":"2022-01-19T15:22:19","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T20:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1224920"},"modified":"2022-01-19T15:22:23","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T20:22:23","slug":"failed-obama-rail-project-collapses-nigeria-purchases-unused-trains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/failed-obama-rail-project-collapses-nigeria-purchases-unused-trains\/","title":{"rendered":"Failed Obama Rail Project Collapses, Nigeria Purchases Unused Trains"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffailed-obama-rail-project-collapses-nigeria-purchases-unused-trains%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1224920&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>A Nigerian city purchased two trains intended for a high-speed rail line in Wisconsin more than a decade after the Obama administration doled out $810 million to the state for the project.<\/p>\n<p>Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos State, Nigeria, visited Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday to inspect the trains and announce the purchase, he <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jidesanwoolu\/status\/1483857730720968705?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet\">tweeted<\/a>. The trains will be used for a metro rail project that is under construction in Lagos, Nigeria\u2019s capital and most populous city.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, I inspected our newly acquired Talgo Intra-City Ten Coach metropolitan trains, for our Red Line Metro project in Lagos,\u201d Sanwo-Olu said Wednesday. \u201cThese new trains which were originally intended to connect Madison and Milwaukee in the United States, are now headed for Lagos state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have completed the acquisition of the trains and ramping up the completion of the ancillary infrastructure like the train stations,\u201d the African leader continued. \u201cWe are irrevocably committed to completing the Red Line Metro rail project by the end of this year and bring a new lease of life to public transportation in Lagos.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the trains were built as part of former President Barack Obama\u2019s ambitious plan to develop a highly-accessible high-speed rail system across the U.S., Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/trains-intended-unbuilt-milwaukee-madison-high-speed-rail-line-going-nigeria\">reported<\/a>. The Obama administration awarded Wisconsin, led by former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, $810 million for the project in 2009. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/06\/11\/joe-biden-administration-california-high-speed-rail-gavin-newsom\/\">(RELATED: Biden Administration Restores $1 Billion For California\u2019s \u2018Train To Nowhere\u2019 After Trump Stripped Funding)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Today, I inspected our newly acquired Talgo Intra-City Ten Coach metropolitan trains, for our Red Line Metro project in Lagos.<\/p>\n<p>These new trains which were originally intended to connect Madison and Milwaukee in the United States, are now headed for Lagos state. (1\/3) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xWpJXubUmq\">pic.twitter.com\/xWpJXubUmq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Babajide Sanwo-Olu (@jidesanwoolu) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jidesanwoolu\/status\/1483857730720968705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 19, 2022<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Department of Transportation, however, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/pokrZ\">canceled the project<\/a> shortly after former Republican Gov. Scott Walker was elected in 2010. Walker promised to distance the state from the project during his campaign, <a href=\"https:\/\/legacy-assets.eenews.net\/open_files\/assets\/2010\/11\/09\/document_gw_02.pdf\">garnering<\/a> angry letters from then-Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnless you change your position, we plan to engage in an orderly transition to wind down Wisconsin\u2019s project so that we do not waste taxpayer\u2019s money,\u201d LaHood wrote in a November 2010 letter to Walker.<\/p>\n<p>After the administration nixed the project, it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/as-high-speed-rail-project-falters-obamas-vision-of-government-remains-unfulfilled\/2013\/11\/08\/669f2dda-1a61-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html\">transferred the funds<\/a> to California for a different rail project. That plan, however, has <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/06\/11\/joe-biden-administration-california-high-speed-rail-gavin-newsom\/\">largely failed<\/a>, with officials <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.ca.gov\/2019\/02\/12\/state-of-the-state-address\/\">scaling it back<\/a> and critics <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2013\/04\/10\/all-aboard-californias-high-speed-train-to-nowhere\/\">dubbing<\/a> it the \u201cbullet train to nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, Talgo, the private company contracted to develop the rail line, built the two trains by 2012 and billed Wisconsin, according to WPR. Talgo then terminated its contract with Wisconsin and sued the state over the project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a little bittersweet,\u201d Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said on Tuesday, WPR reported. \u201cI\u2019m sending my congratulations to the governor in Lagos State in Nigeria, but also a little disappointed that we missed out on the opportunity to have those trainsets operating here in Milwaukee and in Wisconsin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Lagos metro project is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/sites\/default\/files\/lagospressrelease.pdf\">expected<\/a> to begin operation by the end of 2022 and carry 500,000 passengers per day.<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Nigerian city purchased two trains intended for a high-speed rail line in Wisconsin more than a decade after the Obama administration doled out $810 million to the state for &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1224920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1224920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1224920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1224920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1224920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}