All Aboard Florida get official OK from FDOT today

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Per Orlando Sentinel:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-all-aboard-florida-train-20121218,0,6483452.story

Interview with Orange County Mayor is here:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orlnews-central-floridas-sunrail-pr-20110701,0,1412858.premiumvideo


All Aboard Florida got the go-ahead Tuesday to start negotiating a deal for right of way along the BeachLine Expressway that is crucial to its $1 billion plan for a train linking Miami and Orlando. A Florida Department of Transportation committee agreed during a brief teleconference to open talks with the Coral Gables company for free use of land the state agency owns jointly with the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority.

If a deal is reached, construction on the train that would link Orlando International Airport with Miami could start next year with service beginning in late 2014 or early 2015. State and Orlando officials are willing to part with the property. But the expressway is not willing to give up the ability to add lanes and interchanges to the BeachLine, now a four-lane highway.


That could increase construction costs for All Aboard Florida by forcing the train to either go under or over planned interchanges. Expressway Authority spokeswoman Michelle Maikisch said her agency is ready to enter into discussions, but "at what level and exactly when, I don't know."

FDOT procurement manager Carla Perry said, "We are moving ahead with the process."

An All Aboard Florida spokesman could not be immediately reached.

Florida East Coast Industries would own the train and run it on tracks owned by a sister company, Florida East Coast Railway, for 200 miles from downtown Miami through stops in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach to near Cocoa. The train then would veer west for more than 30 miles to get to the airport. All Aboard Florida seeks land along the southern edge of the BeachLine. But the state and authority could not sign a deal with All Aboard Florida without first making sure no better offers were available.

The agencies sought bids starting in October. All Aboard Florida was the only applicant, leading to today's award.

The expressway authority, which owns 24 miles of the BeachLine from near the Brevard County line to just west of the airport, eventually hopes to add two more lanes in both directions, plus at least two new interchanges. The interchanges could be problematic because the train most likely would have to go either over or under the roadwork. And that is expensive, with some estimates ranging as high as $30 million a mile to elevate or dig. Laying track along level ground could cost $5 million a mile.

All Aboard Florida intends to compete with airlines flying between Orlando and South Florida. The train trip would take about three hours, as opposed to four hours by car. Top speed could be 125 mph. One-way tickets could cost $100.

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Per South Florida Business Journal;

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2012/12/18/passenger-rail-company-all-aboard.html?page=all

FECI increases investment cost from $1B to $1.5B.



Passenger rail line company All Aboard Florida got the go ahead Tuesday to begin negotiating a lease so it can build the northern portion of its $1.5 billion Miami to Orlando speed train.
All Aboard Florida, a subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries, needs to build 35 miles of new track from Cocoa to Orlando airport. The Florida Department of Transportation and the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) both have authority over the necessary right-of-way corridor, which runs along State Road 528. A three person committee of agency representatives agreed Tuesday to start negotiations.
The potential economic impact is enormous: Total construction benefits include the creation of 18,707 direct jobs and 17,160 indirect jobs, for a total of nearly 36,000 jobs. The total economic impact is pegged at more than $4 billion during the construction.
Once the project is completed, the project would generate 509 direct jobs, nearly 1,500 indirect jobs for a total of about 2,000 jobs. The total economic output would be $349 million annually.
The speed train could begin construction as early as next year. The proposal given to the agencies includes documents that indicate its completion is slated for the end of 2015, which means it wouldn't be up and running until the following year, at the earliest. Originally, All Aboard Florida officials had projected they would be done by the end of 2014.
The train would have stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach and a station at Orlando airport.
The Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach stations would be completed by August 2015, while the Miami station, which is envisioned as being larger and could include commercial development, wouldn't be finished until December 2015.
All Aboard Florida is a newly launched subsidiary of parent company Florida East Coast Industries.
"This is a major step forward for the project," said Husein Cumber, Executive VP of Corporate Development for Florida East Coast Industries. "AAF will begin negotiations with FDOT to determine the lease terms that will allow our $1.5 billion private investment to move forward quickly so we can enhance Florida's transportation network and begin to create thousands of new jobs in our state.”