ORLANDO, Fla. — When it came to the future of passenger rail in Florida, Amtrak was supposed to lead the way, according to a wire service.
There were plans to expand its existing service, adding a twice-daily Jacksonville-to-Miami run down the Atlantic coast. Following in the tracks of rail pioneer Henry Flagler, it would serve travelers along the east coast for the first time in 34 years.
But as Amtrak hemorrhages federal money at an alarming rate — an expected operating loss of about $1 billion this year, the same as last year — Florida’s leaders are confronting a possible future without the nation’s passenger rail carrier.
“People are concerned about corporate scandals, but that was investor money,” said U.S. Rep John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation Committee. “Even more scandalous is Amtrak’s inability to account for billions of taxpayer dollars.”
Amtrak’s troubles have stopped dead any plans for serving the state’s east coast, although experts anticipate some entity will eventually fill the void.
Amtrak’s future is in question. It took an emergency infusion of $200 million in late June to keep passenger trains running through September, avoiding the first systemwide shutdown in its 31-year history.
Half of that money was a loan from the Department of Transportation, and Amtrak had to agree to a dozen conditions regarding its finances. One requires Amtrak to spend all its money over the next 15 months on existing assets and services — not to plan for an expansion of its service.
Soon after, Amtrak President David Gunn told Congress that the provision could affect work on restoration of service to Florida’s east coast.
Last year, Amtrak made a splashy announcement that it planned to bring passenger rail back to the Atlantic coast, complete with a demonstration trip packed with civic leaders. In a fit of optimism, Amtrak said service would begin in spring 2002.
Passenger trains haven’t run on the state’s Atlantic coast since November 1968, when a labor dispute at Florida East Coast Railway ended service.
“Amtrak’s wanted to serve the east coast of Florida for a long, long time,” Ray Lang, Amtrak’s director of government affairs, said last June. “The east coast of Florida has some of the busiest tourist destinations in the whole world. There’s a tremendous market there, and the potential is almost unlimited.”
Amtrak already carries passengers from Jacksonville to Miami, but the routes cut inland, serving Tampa, Orlando, Lakeland and Winter Haven.
The new route was to use tracks owned by freight carrier Florida East Coast, and make stops in St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Titusville, Cocoa/Port Canaveral, Melbourne, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce and Stuart.
Improvements on the line were necessary — $60 million to build tracks and siding, and erect new signals; $8 million for depots — but the Florida Department of Transportation and FEC said they had their share the money.
However, Amtrak is currently reviewing the project to see if it is allowed by the loan provision and under contract to finish it, spokeswoman Karina Van Veen said. If so, the work will continue.
Meanwhile, the state and FEC can do nothing but wait.
Gov. Jeb Bush called the developments disappointing. “Based on the investment for that expanded service on the east coast, I thought it was a great concept, particularly for smaller communities that were looking for hubs of economic activity,” he said.
FEC general counsel Heidi Eddins said: “The agreements that we reached were subject to very hard and intense negotiations. So, seeing the project languish is not what we expected.”
Still, the route is regarded as highly lucrative and it’s expected some entity will step into the breach once Amtrak is gone.
“I think (Atlantic coast service) will happen eventually because some of the Florida routes make a lot of sense,” Mica said. “You have the passengers and traffic to warrant those lines.”