GOP lawmakers derail high-speed train plans to Chicago

A pair of Republican state lawmakers have effectively derailed — at least for now — plans for so-called “high-speed” passenger train service between the Twin Cities and Chicago.

All they needed to do was object.

“It’s in effect like a one-person veto,” said Sen. Scott Newman, one of the two lawmakers who put the brakes on a vision that has been in the works since the 1990s and has, over the years, received bipartisan support.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation suspended work on the current phase of the project — a mostly completed series of studies costing $1.2 million — after Newman, R-Hutchinson, and Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, blocked a part of those funds: $182,162 to finish an environmental study.

Read more: https://www.twincities.com/2018/01/11/how-2-gop-lawmakers-derailed-high-speed-train-plans-to-chicago-for-now-at-least/