Addition of highway overpasses increases cost of Orlando/CSX commuter rail deal

[thelakelander]

Roads are expensive.  The cost of five highway overpasses proposed for upgrading the CSX "S" line has ballooned from $59 million to $203 million, raising question marks on the entire plan.

CSX Deal Shaky As Price Tag Rises 32 Percent

By LINDSAY PETERSON of The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 26, 2008

TAMPA - The cost of the state's commuter rail deal with CSX has risen by a nearly a third, from $491 million to $649 million, according to the latest Florida Department of Transportation estimates.

"The project seems to be growing in costs every time we turn around and ask more questions," said state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey. He's one of several state lawmakers who are questioning whether Florida should spend so much money on railroads in a year when needed highway projects are being cut from the state budget.

The state DOT is proposing to buy 61 miles of CSX tracks in the Orlando area for commuter rail and to help CSX expand its freight operations statewide. CSX would get $150 million for the Orlando tracks. The rest of the money in the deal would be used to help CSX improve its freight rail corridors and run more trains into a massive hub the company plans to build in Polk County.

At the time the state announced the multimillion-dollar deal, in August 2006, the freight improvements included five highway overpasses that the state said would cost $59 million. That cost has gone up to $203 million, according to a November 2007 report on the project.

The report also adds $14 million in closing costs for the Orlando-area track purchase.

The increased overpass costs and the closing costs boost the $491 million total to $649 million.

The overpass costs increased when the state DOT "further defined those projects [and] the cost to construct," said Kevin Thibault of the state Department of Transportation.

CSX Traffic To Increase

The road crossings over CSX tracks will be built in Alachua, Sumter and Marion counties along the rail line that runs through Central Florida into Winter Haven, where CSX plans to build a 1,250-acre hub. CSX plans to run more freight trains on that line with the help of Florida taxpayer money.

Thibault said that building the overpasses is "our commitment to those communities," where more and more drivers are having to wait at railroad crossings for freight trains to pass. He denied, however, that the overpass construction was related to CSX's plans to increase freight traffic along that line.

He said the state had been planning for a long time to build the elevated crossings because of sharp increases in road traffic.

Asked why the cost was included in the state's accounting of the CSX deal, he said "we wanted to bring [the costs] forward to make everyone realize that we are doing these grade separations," he said.
State Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, criticized that response. "If something serves the DOT's interests, they include it [in explanations of the deal]. But if it becomes a negative, they want to take it out."

She questions the deal, largely because it will send more freight trains through downtown Lakeland, but also because of the cost.

The news of the cost increase "highlights what I've been saying all along: We don't know the details of the deal" and the continuing costs.

In addition to buying the CSX tracks in the Orlando area, the state plans to help build and operate the commuter rail system. Those plans include more than $300 million from the federal government, but federal officials say that the Orlando project doesn't have enough projected riders to justify the expenditure.

In a written statement Dockery said, "we as legislators need to understand … the extent of the state's commitment, especially in light of the fact that there are no federal dollars in this year's budget" for the Orlando commuter project.

Fasano raised the same questions as Dockery. "The feds are backing away from [the commuter rail plan] and now the cost of state's share has just increased by 150 million dollars," he wrote in an e-mail.

"If that does not send a signal to everyone that we need to take a step back and take another look at what is being proposed and if it's feasible and cost-effective I don't know what will."

A proponent of the project, U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Garden, is working to exempt the Orlando project from the cost-effectiveness rules. He has said that the rules work against newer, spread-out cities, such as Orlando.

Dockery, Fasano and other lawmakers have additional concerns about the CSX deal.

'Dangerous Precedent'

The railroad company won't sell its Orlando area tracks unless the state signs a deal that frees the company of liability in a commuter train . The House Infrastructure Committee approved a bill including the provision last week. However, it's a "dangerous precedent," Dockery said.

It opens the door "for other for-profit companies to demand a release of liability from their negligence as part of their negotiations with the state," she said.

She's been contacted by officials from Massachusetts, who are also in negotiations with CSX to buy sections of its tracks for commuter rail projects but are taking a different course.

In both deals, CSX wants the states to accept "no-fault" liability provisions. That means the states would take responsibility for s involving passenger trains, even in s caused by CSX's negligence.

CSX spokesman Gary Sease said the protection is justified because the company is taking on a new risk by having passenger trains on a line previously used primarily by freight trains.

"It is a no-fault provision in which the freight railroad covers its equipment, employees and contractors, and the commuter agency covers its equipment, employees and passengers," he said in a written statement.

The chairman of the House Infrastructure Committee, Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, said he thought it was "fair to the citizens of Florida and fair to CSX."

It makes Florida taxpayers liable for harm that may come to commuter passengers, regardless of who is at fault. It also makes CSX liable for its own property and workers if a state maintenance worker causes a freight train . The state will be maintaining and operating the commuter rail line.
Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray sees it differently, calling the liability protections for CSX "completely unreasonable."

Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Augustus Jr, a Democrat from Worcester, called the term a "deal breaker."

Augustus said, "there is no way that the governor could come to the people and say he signed an agreement with CSX that says 'no matter how reckless you may behave, don't worry about it, the taxpayers will pick up the tab.'"

Reporter Nicola White contributed to this report. Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at lpeterson@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7834.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/mar/26/csx-deal-shaky-price-tag-rises-32-percent/?news-metro

[Ocklawaha]

TAMPA - The cost of the state's commuter rail deal with CSX has risen by a nearly a third, from $491 million to $649 million, according to the latest Florida Department of Transportation estimates.

Boy I can just see the Good Ol Boyz over at JTA jumping up and down, yelling to the top of their lungs! "Yippie, if this rail deal just doubles in price again, Orlandos 60 mile commuter rail will cost more then our 26 mile busway system!"

Obviously guys, bus IS the superior choice for Jacksonville (NOT!)

Ocklawaha

[Steve]

Now, does this really increase the cost of the commuter rail system?  The state has mentioned that the overpasses were on the books anyway.  This seems kind of like fuzzy math.

Does the cost of the Skyway go up because of the cost of developing Kings Avenue Station?

[thelakelander]

Lakeland wants to be a larger player in Orlando's commuter rail plan.  Officials now want a separate routes for commuter and freight rail.  For those familiar with Central Florida, the answer is track needs to be relayed from Wildwood to Auburndale. 

Lakeland Softens CSX Strategy
City switches from battling proposal to working to be a problem-solver.

By Diane Lacey Allen
THE LEDGER

TALLAHASEE | The city of Lakeland worked the halls of Tallahassee on Tuesday, morphing from the community that had a train problem to a problem-solver for the state .

Lakeland officials are trying to become a player rather than a spoiler in Orlando's quest for a commuter train system as they press for ways to soften the impact of a plan by CSX to route more rail traffic through Lakeland.

Pitching mostly to the Polk legislators, City Commissioner Gow Fields pushed for separate commuter and freight rails - a plan he said would ease traffic along the Interstate 4 corridor by leaving commuter rail lines near people and rerouting freight rail somewhere else.

"It gives us another mode of transportation that does not currently exist," Fields said.

City Manager Doug Thomas said CSX is not against the idea.

"The question is where, how much and what's the time frame," Thomas said.

By refocusing on the need for commuter rail, Lakeland is trying to enlarge its role in the debate and, in the process, get freight trains out of its downtown.

full article: http://www.theledger.com/article/20080326/NEWS/803260461/1134

[thelakelander]

According to the Lakeland paper, the overbudget overpass work as already broken ground.

He said the improvements were already planned, with or without the deal with CSX, even though the commuter rail project may have expedited the work.

"We will do that regardless of going forward with commuter rail," said Thibault. "Those are our commitments that we were going to do to those communities anyway."

One of the planned improvements, at State Road 20 in Alachua County, is already completed and a new overpass in downtown Ocala that is part of the deal has already begun.

The other three projects are in Alachua County on State Road 26, State Road 44 south of Wildwood and at U.S. 301 in Sumter County.

Even if the increased cost is independent of the controversial CSX project, it only adds fuel to opponents who worry the displaced freight traffic will further disrupt downtown Lakeland and other cities west and north of Orlando.

The new estimate makes the price tag for the plan nearly $630 million. Though that money was earmarked specifically for transportation projects, the higher cost will only heighten legislative scrutiny.

full article: http://www.theledger.com/article/20080326/NEWS/803260478

[JeffreyS]

Orlando is setting an excellent example on this.  They need it so they are making it happen even if the ridership hasn't been in place for twenty years.  The next twenty years are what they are thinking about. With the economy becoming as tight as ever everything you put off is more difficult to accomplish even if the need grows. I know this is a bit of preaching to the choir but this is where I practice my preaching.

[Ocklawaha]

The SILVER METEOR headed out of Jacksonville and for that Wildwood-Auburndale section of track on the way to Miami. All locomotives facing forward, "Elephant Lashup" in railroad lingo.

The State of Florida's long anti-rail bias got us into this mess when they allowed the former Seaboard/CSX mainline from Auburndale to Wildwood (*Coleman Jct) to be pulled up.

I watched the rail plans as they came out of Tallahassee and begain to understand these fools had NO interest in investment in Florida Rail. Each year they would issue the state rail map, with pretty colors on what they planned for each segment. There would be the red ones "Abandonment expected" and all the super ideas... The only thing that EVER happened was the Abandonment part. In backwater states like Iowa, S. Dakota or Oklahoma, the States now own and lease more then 50% of their rail miles. Not that State ownership is great, I refer you to the wreck of the Colombian Railroads for that answer. Wrong guys get in power and the rail system is cut into scrap. However the lease or the open access plans are interesting, better yet, get some of the tax burden off the railroads and watch them invest in themselves.

First we pulled all the mail off the rails, then the parcel post, for a system that is computerized and slower then the old Railway Post Office. Next realize we taxed the passenger train into Amtrak. Had we given the rails some relief, Union Station would still be a buzz of FEC, NS and CSX trains. The good old government got us into this mess, and god knows they ought to see the light and get us OUT!

Ocklawaha
also a preacher...