Trains Built for Doomed Wisconsin Rail Project Sold to Nigeria
19th January 2022
Two trains that Wisconsin purchased for a failed high-speed rail project were sold to Nigeria on Tuesday.
The governor of the West African country’s Lagos State visited Milwaukee this week to buy the trains, which had sat unused since 2012. Nigeria plans to use the trains for a metro system under construction.
Wisconsin originally purchased the trains in 2009 from Spanish manufacturer Talgo as part of a plan to construct a high-speed rail line connecting Milwaukee and Madison. Months later, the Obama administration granted Wisconsin $810 million to pay for the rail line.
But the project soon fell apart, according to Wisconsin Public Radio, after the state elected Republican governor Scott Walker, who campaigned on scrapping the rail line.