(The following appeared on the Lakeland Ledger website on February 3, 2009.)
LAKELAND, Fla. — State Sen. Paula Dockery has sent an open letter to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist urging him to step in and force the renegotiation of CSX Transportation’s commuter rail/freight transfer station deal with the Florida Department of Transportation.
The Lakeland Republican said her initial concerns about the freight transfer center in Winter Haven, which could bring 54 trains a day through downtown Lakeland, have grown.
She said the deal, worked out largely in secret, imposes a burden on state taxpayers and gives little or no relief to Orlando, where traffic in the Taft train yards was largely to be drawn down to Winter Haven.
“The last time we talked, you said you wanted a better understanding of the details. Take it from me, the facts are extraordinarily difficult to find,” she wrote, regarding her efforts to review 27 boxes of documents between CSX and the DOT.
The freight transfer station and the commuter rail line that CSX wants to sell the state for the Orlando area are not cost-effective as they are currently structured, she said. She said the cost of all the side deals within the deal would make the purchase of the track for commuter rail cost about $10.5 million per mile.
“I’m a strong proponent of rail transit. … But this project has all the makings of a white elephant that could actually harm Florida’s efforts to create meaningful routes for passenger rail across regions and the state,” she said in the Tuesday night letter to Crist.