(The following article by Joe Follick was posted on the Ocala Star Banner website on February 19.)
TALLAHASSEE — Last year’s must-see legislative battle can’t even fill a room this year, as House lawmakers on Wednesday methodically moved toward approving a controversial commuter rail system through greater Orlando.
The rail project ultimately will have the ripple effect of significantly increasing the number of freight trains that go through Ocala on their way to Jacksonville.
The two largest opponents of the plan have dropped out of the battle. Trial lawyers were angered last year by limits on lawsuits triggered by negligent employees contracted by the state to work on the railroad. But the powerful lobbying group dropped its opposition when that provision was removed.
Officials in Lakeland, which will also see a large increase in rail traffic as a result of the deal, said Wednesday that new provisions in the bill to require the state to work toward moving displaced freight train traffic out of the city’s downtown had soothed their concerns.
The drop in opposition was clear just by counting heads. In a committee hearing last year in the same fourth floor room of the House Office Building, reporters were forced to sneak in side doors as security officers limited the number of occupants in the packed room. On Wednesday, there were plenty of available seats and little real opposition as the House Economic Development and Community Affairs Policy Council approved the bill by a 13-3 vote.
In 2007, the Florida Department of Transportation and CSX Transportation agreed to a deal that bought 61.5 miles of the company’s rail line between DeLand and Poinciana for a state-run commuter rail line to begin operating in 2010.
The only thing lawmakers need to approve to complete the deal is a proposal that would make the company and the state responsible for their own equipment, employees and passengers in a crash, regardless of who might be at fault.
To help offset that legal cost, CSX had agreed to pay the state $10 million per year to use the new commuter line for its own freight traffic up to 12 hours per day. The state has claimed the cost of the rail line came at a below-market rate.
To offset the difference, FDOT agreed to pay for improvements to CSX freight lines running from Jacksonville through Marion County to accommodate traffic displaced from the state-run commuter line. The total cost of the purchase and upgrades is $641 million with the state, local governments and the federal government slated to split the operating costs for seven years.
Passage of the deal is almost certain in the House, which approved the plan last year.
The test will come in the Senate, where Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, has made defeat of the plan a personal crusade. While Dockery supports the commuter rail system, she said it should not cost the state so much and should not force Lakeland to take more freight train traffic.