(The following editorial appeared on the Orlando Sentinel website on November 6.)
ORLANDO, Fla. — Reason won out in July when local governments slated to host commuter rail stood down selfish, short-sighted and sometimes hysterical interests and approved the 61-mile route.
Cooler heads will need to prevail again this month, as opponents of commuter rail from outside metro Orlando set their sights on state officials. Those officials are gearing to sign by Nov. 30 a contract of sale and an operating agreement with CSX, which owns the tracks on which commuter rail trains would run.
Remember the desperation of opponents in the months before local officials green-lighted the project? In east Volusia County, some sought to derail it because they didn’t want their west Volusia County brethren to get something that might not benefit them equally. Some in Winter Park didn’t want it because they claimed it would ruin a park that, for decades, nevertheless has seen other trains pass through it. Still others there and in other localities claimed it would cost too much, though the state, the federal government and participating counties would pick up most of the expense.
Arguments targeted at state officials this time around shoot about as straight as those aimed in the spring and summer at local officials. The agreement bringing commuter rail to the Orlando area got put together in part by Jeb Bush — not his successor in the governor’s office, Charlie Crist. That means, opponents say, Mr. Crist might see its folly. Only Mr. Crist supports the sorely needed, environmentally friendly transportation option, as he made clear to this Editorial Board.
C.C. Dockery, who spearheaded a failed effort to bring high-speed rail to Florida, and his wife, Sen. Paula Dockery, have suggested the deal that would bring commuter rail to metro Orlando amounts to a state handout to the rail-freight industry. That’s because much of the freight CSX now delivers on rail cars passing though Orlando would get rerouted to a rail line CSX currently runs through Winter Haven and Lakeland, where the Dockerys live.
They and others in Lakeland fear more freight there could spawn too many trucks transporting rail’s goods, and they complain it’s a poor substitute to high-speed rail. But officials in Winter Haven, which would host an expansive new terminal for the freight trains, can’t wait for its arrival and know, like many officials to the west in Tampa, that it’s sure to spawn needed economic development.
Commuter rail also needn’t kill high-speed rail. Advocates for commuter rail actually helped awaken a state board that is supposed to plan routes for high speed trains. It hadn’t met in years — until now. The systems can complement each other as much as commuter rail is certain to complement the economies and environment along its route.