Some excellent suggestions here:
QuoteLeadership lacking on high-speed rail
In Print: Monday, October 12, 2009
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Florida needs two things if it hopes to be included in the Obama administration's plans for a high-speed intercity rail network.
The first is a transportation vision that looks beyond the automobile, because the cost of gasoline and new roads will only make cars a more expensive option in the decades to come. Florida also needs to stop pitting one region of the state against another. This should not be a competition between South and Central Florida any more than it should be between bullet and commuter trains. Getting behind rail anywhere in Florida will help build a statewide network.
Florida is one of 40 states that applied for part of the $13 billion that the Obama administration plans to spend on high-speed rail over the next five years. The state wants $2.5 billion to build the first leg of a high-speed network between Tampa and Orlando. It also asked for money to explore extending the line from Orlando to Miami.
The federal stimulus money would give Florida the big chunk of cash necessary to get rail going. But Washington is rightly concerned about the state's history of false starts. Florida has no real vision for rail and no dedicated funding to support it. The Legislature has shown almost no interest in how rail can create jobs and redevelop communities. While state leaders came around after a slow start to support the high-speed bid, they have not shown a willingness to bring serious matching money to the table. Washington is looking for a strong partner, and what it doesn't find in Florida it can find elsewhere.
Orlando and Miami are also using the high-speed application to promote their own provincial interests. Orlando says the state's high-speed rail hopes hinge on the Legislature approving the SunRail commuter rail line for Central Florida. While those two lines would complement each other, their fates are not linked. SunRail has its own problems, chiefly the legal protections taxpayers would extend to freight carrier CSX, which would share SunRail's rail corridor. Miami has used the application to argue for dedicated funds for Tri-Rail, the three-county commuter line in South Florida. Both campaigns have only underscored Florida's weak commitment to rail and its risk as a potential partner.
State and local officials need to give Washington the confidence to invest in rail in Florida.
They must create a funding base that makes rail systems possible.
They must craft fair deals with private companies that do more than shift liabilities onto taxpayers.
And they must realize that building in stages helps all Florida cities. Solving Tri-Rail's money problems does as much for South Florida and high-speed as it does for Orlando. And making SunRail a workable model helps the Tampa Bay area, which is looking to build a commuter rail system of its own.
The stimulus money could be a game-changer in how Florida recovers from its growth-fueled economy. Building rail serves the tourist industry while protecting the very natural resources that bring so many here. The high-speed bid should be economic development priority No. 1 â€" as should the realization that local communities have a common stake in how Florida develops.
[Last modified: Oct 11, 2009 04:30 AM]
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/leadership-lacking-on-high-speed-rail/1042887
Faye I concur. Three different systems with each one having problems..............the common denominator is funding. Rather than a tax on a allready overstressed public, maybe the tax end could be Incorporated into the ticketing to use a system? More than ever this issue will require thinking outside of the box! Special taxing boards or area's just put the brunt on the taxpayer. Foisting that off on tourists would not be smart or no one would consider coming to Florida to spend their money.......so I am open to suggestions! More than likely it will require public/private enterprise combination with some Federal stimulus money, but a dedicated funding source will have to be found and soon or Florida will be tail end charlie once more!
The connection between HSR and SunRail is simple...the Feds want to see that FL has its own committmkent top rail prior to handing out up to $2.5 Billion.
I doubt Florida will get funding for the HSR as planned. We haven't had a state effort to do anything serious with passenger rail, meanwhile FDOT has published a long list of "State Rail Plans," with little or no meaning. They have identified hundreds of miles of desirable routes, published extensive reports and tables on said lines, then the following Plan, mentions that last years big project has been abandoned by CSX, NS or FEC. We have a much more dedicated commitment to bike trails then to rail. Since 1968, our rail map has shrunk from nearly 5,000 miles to just a tad over 1,000. A State office with no teeth, Politicians with no clue, and a population of retired transplants, who feel they already paid for a railroad on Long Island, and they have no intention of paying for another one in Florida. No guts - No glory.
OCKLAWAHA