Per the Palm Beach Post
Federal rail official blasts All Aboard Florida's safety commitment for passenger railroad
By Emily Roach
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The $47 million question: Just how safe should the FEC corridor be when All Aboard Florida starts running express passenger service between Miami and Orlando?
The Federal Railroad Administration's High-Speed Rail Division wants to hold the railroad to "sealed corridor" level of safety guidelines, specifically in the area from West Palm Beach and northward where trains can go up to 110 mph.
The key word is "guidelines," according to a report by engineer Frank Frey.
"In my professional opinion, I respectfully disagree with the Project's approach in that they are not exercising appropriate safety practices and reasonable care when designing for High Speed Passenger Rail service," Frey said in a report dated March 20 and recently shared with local planning officials.
All Aboard Florida officials are aiming for a lower level of safety standards, he wrote. Florida Department of Transportation actually sets safety standards for the rail lines, and its requirements are lower than FRA's 2009 highway-rail grade crossing guidelines for high-speed passenger rail.
All Aboard Florida estimated the difference was $47 million in safety upgrades, Frey stated.
"Safety is All Aboard Florida's number one goal. We will continue working with the Federal Railroad Administration, the Florida Department of Transportation and the local communities to ensure a safe system is developed," All Aboard Florida stated Sunday.
The 'trespassing' issue
By early 2016, All Aboard Florida aims to run 32 passenger trains between Miami and Orlando, with stops in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The trains could travel up to 79 mph from Miami to 30th Street in West Palm Beach, and up to 110 mph north to Cocoa, where the railroad has to build a set of tracks running to Orlando International Airport.
Residents are worried about traffic congestion, noise and boating slowdowns due to bridge closings. But local governments and business groups have supported the project because the stations will improve blighted downtown areas, the service will take cars off the highways and the infrastructure upgrades could help bring commuter rail to the eastward tracks.
One reason for the elevated level of safety improvements: "Trespassing is an epidemic along this corridor," Frey states in the report.
Footpaths from neighborhoods to nearby businesses are easily seen all along the tracks, said Kim DeLaney, the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council's strategic development coordinator. Technically, pedestrians are trespassing when they use these paths.
Frey recommends putting up barriers including gates, but states that All Aboard Florida declined to add pedestrian gates without a government entity agreeing to maintain them.
"What I see in the report is the FRA zooming out and assessing all individuals who would be crossing the corridor, be they in vehicles or pedestrians," DeLaney said. "It appears to be a much broader statement about the needs for safety along the corridor."
Palm Beach County Commissioner Priscilla Taylor said she is glad federal authorities are addressing the pedestrian problems.
"All we've been hearing about are the quiet zones," she said. "But to me, there are bigger safety concerns" with children and pedestrians.
Along the East Coast, All Aboard Florida owner Florida East Coast Industries has the rights to use affiliate Florida East Coast Railway's tracks. Passenger rail was discontinued along the corridor in 1968, so the rail bed exists, but All Aboard Florida needs to add a second track in areas it was removed. While passenger trains would be less than a tenth the length of the 1.75-mile freight trains, they would travel much faster.
Frey surveyed every crossing from Miami through St. Lucie County with All Aboard Florida, state transportation engineers and local officials in February and March. Surveys from Indian River County to Cocoa in Brevard County are planned this summer.
All Aboard Florida is a private company, and has not made its records from the surveys public, nor has it shared them in detail with local authorities. According to Frey's report, state transportation officials have not taken a position. State transportation officials were unavailable Sunday to comment.
Who pays for crossings?
Achieving a "sealed corridor" north of 30th Street would mean traffic control devices at each crossing, most likely gates and lights, FRA spokesman Mike England said this year. "Basically, it is a program to eliminate and/or improve railway highway crossings," he said.
Ultimately, that $47 million in upgrades could fall on local governments, as they plan upgrades for quiet zones. Quiet zones require an even higher level of safety, because trains don't blow their horns at crossings.
All Aboard Florida made a commitment last year to fund the safety upgrades required for passenger rail, even though the easements granted to local governments when crossings were added state that the local governments are responsible for maintaining the equipment.
Jupiter Town Councilwoman Wendy Harrison, who is a member of the Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is helping identify funding sources for quiet zones, said the report could be helpful.
"It's great news for the cities and counties that the federal government believes the appropriate party to pay for these upgrades is the railroad," she said.
If regulators hold All Aboard Florida to the standards of the FRA report, then local governments pay less for safety upgrades to qualify for quiet zones. Conversely, if they require lower standards, more of the burden for quiet zones falls on local governments.
The county and other governments along the FEC corridor are seeking funds from state and federal transportation dollars to pay for quiet zone upgrades.
Palm Beach County League of Cities Executive Director Richard Radcliffe said he was sure All Aboard Florida would be happy for government funds to pay for more of the safety upgrades.
"But they have repeatedly said in meetings that they are going to create this system at the highest safety standards available, leaving out the quiet zones," he said.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Hal Valeche said if the FRA levels are what's needed for safety, then he wants the railroad to be held to them. But maybe there is a "middle ground," he said.
"All Aboard Florida told the MPO they would pay for safety improvements," he said, "and we expect them to stand by their commitment."
And like clockwork the politicians respond in kind.....the hitch here is that AAF wants an FRA loan to finance the deal, but yet they are designing the effort under FDOT rules, which the laws permit but are less stringent than FRA HSR rules.
Frankel, Murphy call for highest level of safety for All Aboard Florida railroad designs
By Emily Roach
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
U.S. Reps. Lois Frankel and Patrick Murphy are urging federal Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to hold All Aboard Florida passenger rail service to the highest requirements on safety, or hold out on the company's request for a federal loan.
The two met with Foxx this week and followed up with a letter.
"While AAF may boost tourism and business in Florida's biggest cities, it also may delay emergency vehicles, create traffic jams, raise noise pollution, and block waterways along hundreds of miles of tracks," the letter states. "In addition, AAF may force Florida towns and cities on already-tight budgets to foot the bill for quiet crossings and future maintenance."
The railroad owned by Florida East Coast Industries has proposed an express rail service from Miami to Orlando, aimed to turnaround passengers in three hours and compete with highway or airline travel.
"All Aboard Florida maintains its unwavering commitment to implement appropriate safety improvements to this historic infrastructure base. Safety remains the primary focus of our efforts," company President Mike Reininger stated in an email.
The $1.5 billion project has applied for a Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing loan from the FRA to help it add a second set of tracks as well as modernized signaling and other safety equipment. FRA is doing an Environmental Impact Statement on the project, a draft of which is expected to be published later in the spring and start a public hearing process.
"The diligent and comprehensive processes associated with the Railroad Rehabilitation Improvement Financing program are designed to evaluate the economic viability of the project," Reininger said. "If approved, the loan will part of an overall capital structure and go through a rigorous independent financial analysis. The principal and interest must be repaid according to the terms of the program with AAF funds."
Most recently, the railroad has been doing surveys of the track crossings with federal, state and local officials. These are areas where local jurisdictions have gotten permission from Florida Each Coast Railway, which owns the tracks and is an affiliate of FECI, to build roads across the tracks. Most of those easement agreements are decades old.
Those crossings have to be upgraded for the level of service anticipated, and the railroad committed to paying for the safety equipment needs — short of quiet zone requirements. Safety guidelines are elevated for high-speed rail, and the passenger service would run up to 110 mph north of 30th Street in West Palm Beach to Cocoa. Then up to 125 mph from Cocoa to Orlando.
But the Federal Railroad Administration's guidelines have not been translated into regulations, and state of Florida transportation officials ultimately have the authority to sign off on the railroad design, which will include its safety improvements for the rail line. The state's regulations are lower than those outlined in the FRA's Highway Rail Grade Crossing Guidelines for High-speed passenger Rail.
A Federal Railroad Administration engineering report after the surveys stated that All Aboard Florida planned to meet the lower standards, saving the railroad an estimated $47 million.
That burden would be shifted to local governments, if they are to qualify for quiet zones and alleviate noise concerns residents have expressed.
Reininger said the railroad will meet all the requirements set by state and federal agencies that oversee the project.
Frankel and Murphy called for several concessions from the railroad, including:
> Installing equipment that would meet the maximum FRA safety guidelines.
> Sharing the cost of quiet zone safety equipment needs.
> Sharing the cost of bridge upgrades to lessen impacts to boaters.
> Scheduling trains to minimize traffic delays.
> Publishing an economic impact study that includes negative impacts to property values and commerce.
> Revealing expected ridership levels of international travelers, intrastate travelers and interstate travelers.