WrongTrack Blog

By KEITH LAING
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, July 1, 2009..........Without major changes to the deal that would allow the Department of Transportation to purchase tracks from CSX Corp. to build the proposed SunRail Orlando commuter train, an extra six months granted by the company to hammer out details is “manufactured news,” the woman credited with derailing the train said Wednesday.

Let's skip the "Little Engine that Could" jokes. SunRail -- the commuter line slated to run from DeLand to Osceola County, and eventually to the Tampa Bay area -- has serious potential to make Central Florida more transit-friendly and improve the area's economic bottom line.

But to make the line a reality, something must give.

By Dan Tracy

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has taken to using a cliché when he discusses the likelihood of the SunRail commuter train once again going to the state Legislature for approval. "Third time's the charm," he says.

The Legislature has twice shut down the $1.2 billion project, most recently in May.

The mayor's hopes for a different outcome this time are built largely on two developments: the possibility of more federal money and a reworked liability agreement with CSX, the Jacksonville train company that owns the tracks SunRail would use.

We should have seen it coming.

No matter that CSX emphatically said it had no interest in extending a June 30 deadline for closing the SunRail deal. No matter that the railroad bet everything on an all-or-nothing deal that would have forced taxpayers to assume liability when its negligence kills people.

No matter what CSX says, it has no intention of walking away from $431 million in cash and taxpayer giveaways.

Friends and supporters of Florida Sen. Paula Dockery have launched a movement to draft her into the race for governor.

Asked about her interest, Sen. Dockery, R-Lakeland, gave this reply to Lucy Morgan of The St. Petersburg Times.

"Two weeks ago the thought of running for governor wasn't on my radar screen. It was my intention to examine a run for Putnam's Congressional seat. I was waiting until the session was over and the CSX issue was settled to discuss with Doc.

The Lakeland Ledger
Editorial
May 8, 2009

Once again, for the second year in a row, the attempt to establish commuter-
rail service in the greater Orlando area is dead. The deal was bad from the start: The money for the track purchases was inserted in a Senate bill just before midnight on the last day of the 2005 legislative session.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer says that when it comes to making SunRail happen, “We're pretty much taking a look at everything. Nothing is off the table.”

If that’s true, here’s my suggestion for the mayor. Start over.

Start by building a transparent process that engages the citizens of Central Florida in the question of how to better move people around Orlando. Stay away from back-room deals that spawn giveaways for political friends. Floridians want their business done in the sunshine.

How SunRail failed: Gripes, grudges and Paula Dockery's gift to senators

'Messaging is everything. The message was shaped before we ever got engaged.' -- Sen. Andy Gardiner

By Dan Tracy
May 3, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - SunRail was, in the language of the state Legislature, a heavy lift.

By the legislative session's 60th and final day, the bill to authorize the proposed Central Florida commuter train might as well have weighed as much as a diesel locomotive, or roughly 200 tons.

Channel 9 - Orlando
May 6, 2009

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Over $75 million in taxpayers' money went into the SunRail commuter train, but it may never run through Central Florida. The money was spent by the government at all levels, federal, state and the local community.

The commuter train was supposed to link DeLand to Poinciana and help ease traffic on I-4, but state lawmakers voted it down. The vast majority was spent by the state, the same state government that has been coping with a huge budget shortfall for 2009.

By Dan Tracy
Orlando Sentinel
May 7, 2009

The proposed SunRail commuter train has crashed and burned twice in the Florida Senate, leaving a bleak -- at best -- future for the $1.2 billion project.

But proponents have vowed to make another run at putting the train on track, although they are not sure how to do it yet.

"We're pretty much taking a look at everything. Nothing is off the table," said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, a leading SunRail proponent and chairman of the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission.