But as for that bike-centric restaurant planned by Berge, don't bet on it. Berge announced in early December that the Velo Bahn restaurant could not go forward without the rail station across the street: The business plan assumed that 20 percent of the restaurant's customer base would be rail travelers.

"It felt like sort of a really bleak financial picture" for the restaurant, Berge says, adding that Magnus will still close by the end of the year. "Basically, thanks to the vote by the GOP and Scott Walker administration, I'm going to terminate 45 jobs and $1.8 million in commerce per year."

Walker was undaunted in the face of a booming chorus of similar criticism last week. He declared the loss of rail funds a "victory" for the state and his opposition to "runaway government spending."

"As I said along the campaign trail, we didn't need and couldn't afford the Madison to Milwaukee rail line," he said in a prepared statement last week. "While I would have preferred to have the $810 million reallocated to repair our crumbling roads and bridges, I am glad that the transportation fund will not be on the hook for a minimum of $7.5 million of operating subsidies every year."