RAILforum: More on Madison, WI, commuter rail; mayor isn't impressed

This is topic More on Madison, WI, commuter rail; mayor isn't impressed in forum Railroad News at RAILforum.

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Posted by CG96 (Member # 1408) on :

http://www.madison.com/captimes/news/stories/68736.php

No wonder these projects don't get off the ground. the governemtn has already spent several million $$ on engineering and feasibility studies, and the local government is talking about spending more money on yet another study. Hey, folks, how about spending some money on actually getting the system off the ground and running some trains, huh?

Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :

In case nobody has noticed, studies are a bureaucratic method of decision avoidance. The other is to hire a consultant, give him specific things to study so as to achieve the answer you want, and then blame the consultant for the outcome.

In most large organizations, there can be severe penalties for wrong decisions, but if you can find a reason to pass the decision to someone else or request a study due to insufficient information, (and when is the information ever going to be sufficient?) then you have avoided a chance of making a mistake.

A study is a method of looking like you are doing something when you really are not.

I have worked on more than one project that was essentially studied to death. The thing to do if you want something to happen is find the least controversial part and start real construction work. Once that happens it becomes much harder to kill.