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What CSX Gets What We Get

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 9, 2007

Updated: 09/09/2007 01:22 am

A plan to link Tampa and Orlando was the centerpiece of the state's high-speed rail program. But three years ago, Gov. Jeb Bush helped lead the fight to kill it - with help from freight rail companies CSX and Florida East Coast Industries.

Their victory led to a new passenger rail plan for Florida and a boon for the railroads. The plan gives priority to the purchase of lines owned by CSX, a major Bush family campaign donor, and FEC, another politically connected railroad company.

CSX is on the verge of signing a half-billion-dollar deal with the state for the sale of tracks in Central Florida. FEC began talks with the state about selling its rail right of way in South Florida and, in the process, attracted investors who bought the company. In that purchase, one of Bush's longtime friends, Armando Codina, received about $255 million.

As for passenger service, the deal with CSX will bring 61 miles of commuter rail to the Orlando area. Meanwhile, freight traffic will rise sharply through Lakeland and Plant City over a stretch of track that has claimed six lives in three months.

And the Tampa-to-Orlando passenger link? It's virtually dead, near the bottom of the state's new priority list.

Lindsay Peterson and Billy Townsend

DETAILS, This Section, Page 6

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