(The following story by Lindsay Peterson and Catherine Dolinski appeared on the Tampa Tribune website on February 5, 2009.)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Charlie Crist threw his support behind the Central Florida commuter rail project on Wednesday, even as it appeared the price could be rising.
“This is an incredibly cooperative effort to do what’s right, not only for Central Florida, but really for all of Florida,” Crist said, surrounded by Central Florida’s legislative representatives and other project supporters. “It’s well thought out. It helps the economy. It helps transportation.”
But it could end up costing more than the $1.2 billion, unless the state limits the scope of the 61-mile system. Three contractors submitted bids last week for the commuter route’s first leg, including track additions, signals and stations. All three came in over the $158 million maximum price.
Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos said she thought the problem could be solved without a cost increase. DOT officials plan to review the bid documents “to see what we need to do to address the issues.”
Beyond the cost, the issue that stymied the project in 2008 remains unresolved.
The system will run on CSX Transportation tracks, which the state plans to buy for $432 million. After selling the tracks, CSX plans to lease them to run freight during off-peak commuter hours. But if it causes an accident, it won’t be held responsible for harming any commuters or commuter trains.
A second legal provision upset the state’s association of trial lawyers in 2008. It would have extended the state’s protection from high-cost lawsuits to the private company that will maintain and control dispatching for the new commuter rail system. That company has yet to be chosen. To appease the lawyers, lawmakers omitted the provision from a bill filed this week.
Crist noted the change on Wednesday. “There’s been good progress with the trial bar, and I think that was sort of the real sticking point,” he said.
It’s not the key point, said state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, saying it’s the no-fault provision that protects CSX if one of its freight trains collides with a commuter train or does something else to cause an accident on the line.
She also worries about the project’s effect on Lakeland as it shifts CSX freight traffic out of Orlando. Downtown Lakeland could see 54 trains a day, she wrote to Crist in a letter sent Tuesday.
The letter also asks Crist, “Did you know that at $10.5 million per mile, Florida would pay the highest rail-sale price in U.S. history? And that taxpayers would pay for CSX’s mistakes on our tracks, even if the freight railroad is grossly negligent? And that the CSX route would take only 3,600 cars off of Interstate 4?”
On Wednesday, Crist stuck with the idea that the commuter system is needed to get cars off the highways.
“It’s a matter of what can we do to make transportation needs met for the people of Florida in the most efficient way,” he said.
Dockery said she wonders whether Crist is aware of all the details of the plan. “I know the governor has been supportive of commuter rail, as are most of us,” she said. “But in this climate, in terms of the costs and in terms of liability, it’s difficult.
“I don’t know how he can support something that transfers liability off the back of a private company and on to taxpayers.”