(The following editorial appeared on the Florida Times-Union website on March 9, 2009.)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Pro: Communter rail deal offers many benefits
Florida stands on the threshold of doing something every other state wants to do: give its citizens a green option to driving on congested highways.
It’s called SunRail, a visionary effort in the Orlando area that deserves our support.
It’s important to Jacksonville because it includes funding for needed rail infrastructure for Jacksonville’s port and it keeps Florida high on the priority list for federal funding of other commuter rail initiatives.
But more than that, final approval from the Florida Legislature for SunRail would help jump start Florida’s economy and ease highway congestion.
And it will improve the environment by shifting freight to rail, which can move a ton of freight more than 423 miles on a gallon of fuel.
As part of the SunRail agreement, Jacksonville-based CSX would sell 61 miles of its mainline track through Central Florida.
Think of it as a rail version of Interstate 95 to the state for use in creating the new commuter rail service.
SunRail would serve the City of Orlando and Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties.
These communities have pledged to match $150 million in state funds to help deliver over $300 million in added federal funding support.
That means jobs and economic stimulus – all documented in an economic impact report from the Florida Department of Transportation.
This innovative agreement is much less expensive than trying to carve a new commuter track through the heart of downtown Orlando.
At the same time, it maintains CSX’s ability to deliver freight by fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly rail, something policymakers all over the country believe is the transportation wave of the future.
We’re working with the state to designate proceeds from the sale to expand capacity on an alternate freight line, and to minimize with highway overpasses, side tracks and state-of-the-art signaling any impacts on communities that will see additional freight trains.
As they have been for more than 100 years, railroads are the circulatory system of Florida’s economy.
They help get goods cost-effectively to Florida consumers, and make Florida goods more competitive around the globe.
In addition to the proposed JaxPort Connector, CSX will build a state-of-the-art freight terminal in Winter Haven on a site formerly occupied by the city’s wastewater treatment facility.
That project alone will create nearly 700 construction jobs.
U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, and Gov. Charlie Crist and other state officials have joined city and county leaders in Orlando and Tampa who say this is the right option, right now.
The opponents have dwindled to a few who maintain that one of Florida’s largest shovel-ready projects needs more study, more meetings and more delay.
CSX and its predecessor railroads have served Florida since 1837. Today, CSX employs more than 6,000 Floridians.
We’re proud to call Florida home, and proud to be part of this innovative solution to solving transportation challenges.
We want to be part of helping restart our economy and getting Florida moving again.
Louis Renjel
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Con: High costs cannot be justified today
During the 2008 legislative session, a group of lawmakers and lobbyists tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation that would have given CSX Transportation hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars for upkeep and improvements on its freight rail lines.
They tried to sell the proposal to my colleagues as an opportunity for commuter rail in Central Florida.
However, the facts didn’t add up then and they still don’t today.
Many of the same players are back this year.
This is a freight deal, in which the state commits to help finance CSX’s long-term business plan for Florida by upgrading tracks and rerouting trains. This deal carries untold millions in risk and a price tag that escalates by the day.
The cost of the CSX project is at least $2.6 billion. This accounts for $795 million in state money, $764 million in local government funding and uncommitted federal funding.
The winner in the proposed legislation is CSX. The state will pay CSX $432 million to buy Sunrail’s 61-mile Orlando-area rail corridor and to improve CSX freight tracks in other parts of the state. In addition, the state is paying $214 million for new overpasses to accommodate the CSX deal.
However you define the purchase price, which was calculated at the height of Florida’s land value bubble, the CSX transaction is the most expensive per mile rail acquisition in the history of the United States.
The state faces a fiscal crisis of unprecedented magnitude and legislation is advancing in Tallahassee that carries a $2.6 billion price tag.
More Floridians are saying clearly that they want their leaders to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. Yet, groups in Tallahassee continue to press forward with a project of unprecedented expense and a huge private corporate welfare component without regard to the growing challenges our families face.
Just as amazing is the fact that according to the Florida Department of Transportation, the proposed commuter rail project will in 17 years and at full operation have projected ridership of 13,700.
The immediate ridership models are roughly 3,500 passengers a day. This means the Legislature would be spending $2.6 billion for a maximum of 13,700 passengers to use this line each day.
At the same time, CSX’s state-funded freight realignment plans will bring more industrial freight rail traffic and disruptions into a number of west Central Florida communities, none of which were consulted about this deal.
We can better use these hundreds of millions of dollars sitting in our trust funds to fund our public education system, health care for our children and seniors, and local area transportation projects and economic development programs that will create lasting jobs for our citizens.
The people of Florida are on the losing end of this deal. Floridians will continue to see critical services cut while handing over their tax money as a profit cushion for CSX while also assuming liability for the company’s misconduct and negligence.
I wholeheartedly support commuter rail. We should not allow state officials to use the legitimate pursuit of a commuter rail plan to disguise a multi-hundred-million dollar handout to a very profitable corporation.
The deal, while very sweet for CSX, is the wrong deal for Florida right now and one that will not deliver quality and sustainable commuter rail.
Paula Dockery