Florida’s high-speed rail system may offer trains capable of running at 168 mph, but the project has yet to prove it can outrun the pull of state politics.
It has been that way from the beginning. Voters in 2000 approved a constitutional amendment authorizing high-speed trains, then rejected the idea four years later in another amendment.
Now, the federal government has given the state $2.4 billion to build a rail line from Tampa to Orlando, creating the most momentum yet to make the train a reality and turning 2011 into the decisive year for the future of a high-speed train in Florida.
The full story is on the Lakeland Ledger website.