THEY ARE BEGINNING TO CATCH ON.

Give me of your train, O Talgo!
Of your speedy train, O Talgo!
Building by the rushing river,
Not by the trickling Menominee!
You a fast train will build for me,
Build a swift Talgo for training.

(Apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.)

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle is on a road trip to Spain.

Gov. Jim Doyle says he's reviewing Spain's high-speed rail systems and talking up Wisconsin manufacturers to Spanish train builders.

Doyle is in Spain through Saturday. He told Wisconsin reporters during a conference call Wednesday he took a high-speed train from Madrid to Malaga. Doyle says he talked up Wisconsin manufacturers like Milwaukee's Super Steel Corp. to Spanish officials to encourage trade.

Doyle says he made the trip to get a better sense of how high-speed rail works. He says the federal stimulus package includes money for Midwest rail and he hopes to one day see lines linking Minneapolis, Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago.

He says the trains could reach speeds of up to 125 mph.

There's no longer a West Milwaukee Shops to build the cars or a Karl F. Nystrom or Charles H. Bilty to design them.

The United States began to abandon rail travel decades ago in favor of airplanes and automobiles, a trend that killed many American suppliers of rail equipment, Doyle said. Rail, meanwhile, is as much a part of the European lifestyle as its economic model. And many European cities are better connected by rail than air, eliminating the hassles of airports while offering dining cars and swank first-class accommodations. Germany, France and Japan nurture national industries that continuously develop new generations of fast trains.

The article notes somewhat slower speeds than the Germans and French achieve. They are, however, talking about speeds that could be attained with the existing equipment and minor modifications to the infrastructure.





Note the War Bonds car on the 1939 train. Perhaps with all the government borrowing we will see its like again. Although the German ICE trains are comfortable, the dining cars do not offer steaks to order, and the first-class cars do not have rear-facing sofas and an attendant who will bring a gin-and-tonic from the tap lounge, while you watch the prairie unroll at 100 mph plus.