You left out the most important part of the story: Whose move is it? Is Talgo moving the trains? Is Wisconsin? Is Michigan? Who is paying to have the trains moved? Normally a train move is paid for by the owner of a train unless the move is part of a sale or lease to another party. Who is writing this check?
if Michigan uses the Talgos on the Wolverine service, they would most likely lease the Talgos, not purchase them. The Michigan DOT RFP was quite specific that MiDOT is looking for equipment to be used only to the end of 2017 for a 3+ year period. By mid to late 2017, the 130 corridor bi-level cars to be built by Nippon-Sharyo for the Midwest and CA are to be delivered. At that point, MI won't need the Talgos anymore.
By 2017 or in 2018, WA state will be in need of at least 1 additional Talgo trainset to support the increased service frequencies on the Cascades corridor. So, it could work out that MI uses the Talgos through 2017, then the WI Talgos go to the Northwest. But it is a very big if on whether it will happen that way.
The two train sets cancelled by Scott Walker in Wisconsin will be moving to the Amtrak Beech Grove IN shop on Wednesday. The speculation is that they are being prepped for a sale to Michigan. Wisconsin is still on the hook for $66m without anything to show for it.
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