MASS TRANSIT
News Tri-Rail plan is far-reachingA rail initiative expected to be announced today for Central Florida could eventually bring better Tri-Rail service to South Florida.
BY LARRY LEBOWITZ
llebowitz@MiamiHerald.com
Gov. Jeb Bush is expected to announce today a new commuter rail initiative in Central Florida that could lead to improved service for Tri-Rail riders in South Florida and one day lead to a new Tri-Rail line deep into the suburbs of Southwest Miami-Dade.
The governor's aides refused to confirm any details about the scheduled early-afternoon announcement in Orlando regarding the proposed commuter rail service.
But state transportation leaders have been negotiating for months with CSX Transportation for the rights to run trains on 61 miles of freight lines through parts of Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties.
Three sources familiar with the Central Florida deal said CSX, based in Jacksonville,
has also agreed to relinquish dispatching and maintenance control along the 72-mile South Florida corridor that the state bought in 1988 for $264 million.
For years, Tri-Rail leaders have complained that the state refused to wrest control over dispatching from CSX as the company sent freight trains and Amtrak passenger trains into the corridor during peak Tri-Rail service hours.
How the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which operates Tri-Rail, would cover the multimillion-dollar expense of dispatching and maintenance remains to be seen.
The sources said CSX, as part of the Central Florida pact,
will also grant Tri-Rail permission to run passenger service deep into Miami-Dade on a 32-mile spur known as the Homestead extension.
The tracks run from Bird Road near 72nd Avenue diagonally southwest along State Road 874 toward Miami Metrozoo before heading south to Homestead. One spur could also serve residents who live near the Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport.
Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Joe Martinez has been pushing to develop a bare-bones service similar to the early days of Tri-Rail that would provide a commuting alternative for West Kendall suburbanites who could transfer to Metrorail in Hialeah or, someday, at the Miami Intermodal Center near the airport.
Plenty of funding and operational hurdles have to be cleared before Tri-Rail could start new service in Miami-Dade.
The CSX tracks, which currently support one to two freight trains a day, would have to be improved to meet federal safety standards for passenger services.
And Tri-Rail was originally planning on running three-car diesel-powered double-decker trains that could run at speeds approaching 60 mph. But now those diesel multiple units, or DMUs, might be headed to Central Florida a lot sooner than originally anticipated.
The state paid $22.9 million for the first five cars -- the vast majority of the funding secured by Rep. John Mica, a Central Florida Republican who chairs an influential transportation subcommittee.
Tri-Rail was ordered to send two DMUs to Orlando Tuesday where they will be used as a stage prop for today's announcement by Mica and the governor before returning to South Florida for trial runs later this month.
It is unclear how the four Central Florida counties and the state will pay for the new commuter rail service.
On June 27, Bush vetoed a bill that was strongly supported by Central Florida Republicans and Democrats that would have allowed county voters to decide whether to enact a $2-a-day rental-car surcharge to pay for roads, buses, trains and other transportation needs.
CSX will not be relinquishing its ability to haul 508,000 carloads of freight annually on 1,750 miles of track in Florida.
''We are pleased that these negotiations will enhance CSX's ability to meet the freight needs of a growing state while also addressing Central Florida's commuter rail desires,'' said CSX spokesman Gary Sease.