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Although the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) recently announced it was redirecting nearly $1.2 billion in high-speed rail funds originally intended for Wisconsin and Ohio to other states, Madison, Wis., Mayor Dave Cieslewicz isn’t giving up on high-speed rail in Wisconsin just yet.

The mayor, who writes a daily blog on the city’s website, wrote Dec. 17 that he will not stop making plans for a high-speed rail station in Madison.

"We have good, solid plans for a downtown station and they won’t just go away," Cieslewicz wrote. "In fact, I’ll ask city staff to develop them further."

The mayor blogged all last week about Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker’s decision to reject $810 million in federal funds that the state was to receive to build a high-speed rail line from Milwaukee to Madison. The line was part of a longer-term plan for the Midwest high-speed rail network that included connections from Chicago to the Twin Cities.

Under the headline "Hope for the Future," Cieslewicz’s Dec. 17 blog said he plans to send letters to President Barack Obama, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Madison’s congressional delegation "asking them to keep us in the planning loop as the Midwest High Speed Rail Network develops."  The mayor also plans to copy his letter to former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, a Republican who supported rail during his time as governor, the blog said.

Cieslewicz also said he would fight for the rail network between Chicago and the Twin Cities connecting "through Madison and not Dubuque."

A Democrat, Cieslewicz has not masked his anger about the Republican Walker’s decision to send back the federal funds.

"Scott Walker dealt the whole state a devastating blow," Cieslewicz wrote Dec. 17, referring to Walker’s refusal to accept the federal high-speed rail funding. "But we’re going to do everything we can locally to repair the wound he caused."