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March 9, 2009
Central Florida Commuter Rail: Moving Ahead

National Association of Railroad Passengers
March 2009, Vol. 43 No. 3

“SunRail is just the kind of transportation project that Florida needs to create thousands of jobs and generate millions in additional revenue for Central Florida and all of Florida…SunRail will begin to create jobs and infuse much-needed money into our economy in only a matter of weeks after approval by the state legislature.”—Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R)

Long-awaited commuter train service centered on Orlando seems poised to get a final go-ahead this year. This is particularly good news since Florida may lead the nation in terms of unrealized potential for passenger train development.

As Rep. John Mica (R-FL) told NARP, Orlando and Cincinnati are the only metro areas among the nation’s top 27 which lack rail transit. Moreover, Tampa qualifies only due to its 2.4-mile, mostly single-track streetcar line to the Ybor City neighborhood.

Mica — the top Republican on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee — said he strongly supports Tampa rail development and has made that clear to state and local public officials, including Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio. The mayor is a rail supporter and is pushing for a referendum on the 2010 ballot that would ask Tampa voters to approve a sales tax to fund a new light rail line running north from Tampa to the airport.

Mica has played a key role in creating the SunRail deal and keeping it alive despite the state legislature’s failure to approve it last year. He met December 18 with Gov. Crist and other state officials and later said, of Crist and the Florida DOT, “He’s committed to help, and they’ve pledged to help…[Last year], there was confusion about [accident liability terms]…We surveyed all of the commuter rail deals in the country and most were more favorable to CSX than our
deal” (Winter Park Observer, January 1).

Accordingly, “the Florida Justice Association, the state’s powerful trial lawyer association, has agreed to drop its opposition to the…project in the upcoming regular lawmaking session” (Orlando Sentinel, Jan. 15).

SunRail has solid support from the region’s business community in general, and Central Florida Partnership in particular. Overall, SunRail is projected to give the region 260,000 jobs and over $8 billion in economic benefits.

The Florida legislature this year again is considering whether to support an agreement between CSX and the state under which the state would acquire 61.5 miles of CSX mainline centered on Orlando, from DeLand, about 39 miles north of the Amtrak Orlando station, to Poinciana, about 23 miles south of Orlando.

With Poinciana just 14 miles from Disney World, Florida views this line as the first step towards creating a multi-modal system encompassing Orlando’s theme parks and educational centers.

CSX/Florida Agreement

Florida would pay $432 million to CSX: $150 million to acquire the 61.5-mile rail line and $282 million for rail freight infrastructure improvements. In addition, the state would spend $209 million to grade separate five “S” line highway crossings.

Florida in effect would pay for capital improvements to the freight-only “S” line through Ocala and Wildwood, and lines elsewhere in Florida. When these improvements are complete, freight traffic would increase on the “S” line and fall on the “A” line, which has 23 grade crossings within three miles in Orlando.

The $198 million to grow “S” line capacity would remove long, slow freight trains from Orlando, freeing up capacity for passenger trains there.

CSX expects to remove eight freight trains a day from the “A” line, but not necessarily to add that many to the “S,” which currently handles 11 to 20 a day.

In any event, CSX told NARP that, contrary to a Lakeland Ledger report, the planned S line work would not come close to supporting 54 trains a day. Also, Florida DOT is studying the need and potential options for rerouting freight in the Lakeland/Winter Haven area.

When relevant capital investment is complete in up to two years, the state could take over dispatching of each line it owns – the Miami-West Palm Beach route and the newly-purchased one through Orlando.

New Freight Intermodal Facility

CSX plans an Intermodal Logistics Center (ILC) south of downtown Winter Haven on a 318-acre city-owned sludge field; the city gets more jobs plus cash to modernize its water treatment facility. Secondary, adjacent development could cover about 900 acres more.

There will be four miles of double-track along this facility, plus a third line for switching moves to serve it. This should benefi t all Amtrak Miami trains.

The ILC would handle much of the freight now using Taft Yard, eight miles south of the Orlando Amtrak station, and is positioned to serve growth “moving toward the center” between Tampa and Orlando.

Some freight will remain at Taft Yard. Coal for Orlando Utilities near Taft will run via Wildwood, adding about 90 miles to the run. However, freight via Wildwood will have a shorter run than today both on
state-owned and Amtrak-used tracks.

Unfortunate Abandonment

The map shows the importance of retaining rail lines for rail purposes. If the dotted line abandoned in 1998 could be reinstated, freight trains between Winter Haven and points north would not have to run through Lakeland, would have a 17-mile shorter run and would create
less interference for passenger trains on the Auburndale-Lakeland segment that Amtrak’s Silver Star uses and which will be critical for the future. Unfortunately, although the state is investigating this possibility, it appears that local interests no one wants to tangle with control part
of that segment.

Passenger Train Development

Likewise, CSX denied a Tampa Tribune report that the proposed agreement would forbid further development of Florida intercity passenger service on CSX tracks. CSX clearly would resist a resumption of Amtrak service on the “S” line, which ended in November, 2004, when Amtrak cut the New York-Miami Palmetto back to New York-Savannah.

At least since the mid-90s, Florida DOT repeatedly has advocated incremental high speed rail development. The draft agreement with CSX has been criticized for not implementing these plans.

NARP strongly advocates Florida intercity passenger train development, and Florida DOT is studying the possibility of applying for some of the new federal passenger train money (lead story).

However, SunRail and state ownership of this line arguably are building blocks towards that end. Bringing commuter rail to Orlando has been extraordinarily difficult. The search for fixed guideway transit
started with consideration of monorail in the 1980s. Much of the 1990s were spent developing and promoting a $600 million light rail proposal, but this effort ended in 2003 when vocal opponents succeeded in narrowly defeating a 20-year tax that also would have accelerated
road building and added controversial toll lanes to I-4.

The last thing Florida needs is another rail defeat. Moreover, successes of light rail in Charlotte and commuter rail in South Florida and New Mexico imply an even brighter future for SunRail, as Central
Florida has some of the nation’s worst road congestion. ��