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Mica: SunRail is still on track despite political setbacks
By JAMES MILLERStaff Writer
ORLANDO -- The proposed commuter-rail line connecting DeLand and metropolitan Orlando is not dead, despite two consecutive years of dramatic setbacks in the Florida Legislature, supporters said Monday.
In fact, SunRail is very much alive.
Negotiations to carve out a commuter-rail agreement palatable to wary lawmakers will be extended for six months.
The project could have been shut down today, according to an opt-out clause in an agreement between CSX Transportation, which owns the rail corridor, and the state Department of Transportation, which wants to buy it.
"We are on target to keep moving the project forward," U.S. Rep. John Mica, a Winter Park Republican and SunRail proponent, told an audience of SunRail supporters and media Monday at Metroplan Orlando headquarters.
Mica said the 61.5-mile system was necessary "for the sake of the environment, for the sake of energy, for the sake of moving people around our community."
Envisioned by boosters as a key transportation alternative in the growing Interstate 4 corridor, SunRail has been estimated to cost the federal and state governments and five local partners -- Volusia, Orange, Osecola and Seminole counties and Orlando -- $2.7 billion over 30 years, including operations.
But the project appeared to reach a dead end this spring when, for the second year running, the state Senate rejected legislation needed to make it a reality.
Controversial language addressing liability for accidents, budget woes and union opposition helped lead to the defeat.
On Monday, Mica said proponents were working to address each of those issues.
Perhaps most important, he said CSX had agreed to revisit the liability language.
As proposed this spring, it would have shielded the rail company from up to $200 million in damages to commuters or other people in the corridor, even if CSX caused the damages through its negligence.
The FDOT was slated to pay CSX $432 million in a purchase deal, but CSX would have leased the corridor for freight traffic so its trains also would be in use there.
"The long and the short of it is CSX has agreed to look at new terms of liability in which there will be certain limits, I believe, and responsibility for CSX in case of negligence," Mica said. "I don't want to get into specifics."
In a statement, CSX said it planned to continue discussions for six months at the request of elected officials.
"Those discussions will center on whether options exist to bring the transaction to a successful conclusion," according to the statement.
Company spokesman Gary Sease declined to elaborate.
If SunRail proponents are able to hammer out a revised proposal, it could go before the Legislature in a special session this fall, said Sen. Lee Constantine, an Altamonte Springs Republican who's been shepherding SunRail in the Senate.
Constantine said lawmakers likely will have to go back in the fall for at least one other issue, anyway.
"Having it in the light of day by itself with very few other issues I think would be a real positive for us," he said.
Other changes discussed Monday include a potential state application for transportation stimulus money for the project.
Using additional federal money could free state transportation dollars for projects in other parts of the state and potentially soften some lawmakers' budget-based opposition.
Although much of the recent wrangling over SunRail has been happening at the state and federal levels, local officials almost certainly haven't had their last look.
Significant changes to already negotiated agreements would put SunRail back before the Volusia County Council, said County Chairman Frank Bruno.
Only one council member -- Jack Hayman -- has voted against SunRail so far, citing uncertainties about long-term costs and ridership.
SunRail commuter train might be back from brink
- By Dan Tracy, Sentinel Staff Writer
- June 26, 2009
Just days before facing a potentially crushing deadline, the SunRail commuter train proposed for Central Florida might be chugging along again.
Backers of the $1.2 billion project have won a crucial negotiating extension and likely will be heading back to the state Legislature, which has scuttled the plan twice before, most recently two months ago.
"It's far from a done deal. But what we have is one more chance," said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who chairs the local SunRail committee.
Added state Sen. Lee Constantine, R- Altamonte Springs, and a prime SunRail supporter: "I think we are off life support. We're still not healthy, but the prognosis is improving."
A key development was the waiving of next week's deadline to buy tracks from CSX, the Jacksonville train company that owns the line SunRail intends to use.
CSX officially agreed this week to back off the June 30 cutoff date to give lawmakers another chance to consider the plan, company spokesman Gary Sease said.
"We are talking to the Florida Department of Transportation and local officials about options to continue the transaction," Sease said, declining further comment.
Without CSX, it would have been impossible for the train that would link DeLand in Volusia County with downtown Orlando and Poinciana in Osceola County to ever materialize.
Insurance still issue
But SunRail still remains far from becoming a reality.Most vexing remains the problem that stopped SunRail in the Legislature the past two sessions: getting an insurance policy.
The state Senate has twice balked at approving a $200 million pact that assigns liability in case there is an accident. Opponents contend the plan placed too much risk on the state and not enough on CSX.
Dyer said SunRail hopes to blunt that criticism by having CSX assume more risk, particularly when its employees are at fault.
Critics also have decried the high cost of SunRail, saying it amounts to corporate welfare. It was an especially effective argument during the past legislative session when lawmakers were forced to raise some taxes and fees, raid trust funds and rely on federal dollars to plug a $4 billion hole in the budget.
But U.S. Rep. John Mica, R- Winter Park, said he hopes to win even more money from the federal government — close to $250 million — from the nearly $800 billion stimulus package approved earlier this year by the Congress.
"More federal money, less state money," Mica said. "We'll get as much as we can get there."
Some of the money saved by the state could, in theory, be diverted to the struggling Tri-Rail commuter train in South Florida. Constantine tried to win votes in that region last session by offering to back a $2 surcharge on rental cars, but South Florida lawmakers turned him down.
Now that Tri-Rail is facing layoffs, service reductions and a related loss of federal funding, Constantine said, they might be more willing to work with SunRail supporters.
Mica previously has applied for $300 million in federal funding. About $40 million was aside for SunRail in the current budget, he said.
Special session?
Constantine and Dyer said they could bring SunRail back to the Legislature when it meets early next year or during a special session.The most probable scenario, Constantine said, is a special session called during September or October, when regular committee meetings are held.
"Let's tee it up," he said.
Likely standing in the way will be Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, who successfully led the two previous fights against SunRail.
Dockery, whose hometown would be forced to accept extra freight rerouted by SunRail, has argued the commuter train is too expensive and the insurance policy is loaded against the state.
She was traveling Thursday and could not be reached for comment.
The attempt to resurrect SunRail largely came together Wednesday, when Dyer flew to Washington to meet with Mica, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, and representatives from CSX, the Federal Transit Administration, Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak.
Dyer and Mica both characterized the talks as "very positive."
The federal representatives, Dyer and Mica said, stressed that SunRail is critical to state hopes of building a high-speed train because they want it to connect to anther form of mass transit, not just a large parking garage.
Florida is seeking $2 billion in federal money to pay for a 90-mile link between Orlando International Airport and Tampa with a train capable of going at least 110 mph.
Ten areas have been declared eligible by the government. Besides Florida, other likely applicants include California, North Carolina, the Pacific Northwest and Pennsylvania.
As much as $8 billion is up for grabs. The Obama administration might start awarding grants by the end of the year.
Dan Tracy can be reached at dtracy@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5444.
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