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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 14, 2008

Bring Back The Trains

James Howard Kunstler's commentary "Driving Toward Disaster" (Other Views, May 28) struck a chord with me. When I read it, I had just returned from a weekend visit in Venice with my 85-year-old mother, whose wisdom, intellect and insight often surprise the entire college-educated family.

She offered a solution that only decades of life experience, observation and well thought out intellectual calculation could arrive at: "They need to bring back the trains." She said it not with the nostalgia of an Arlo Guthrie song, but with a firm, commonsense conviction.

She's right. A train can carry a lot more stuff than a truck. And it can carry people, too. A lot more people than a single car can carry - fewer cars, less fuel consumption, less pollution, less damage to the environment. One train can take the place of many cars.

Kunstler obviously knows this, for he stated, "Fixing the U.S. passenger railroad system is probably the one project we could undertake right away that would have the greatest impact on the country's oil consumption."

I was encouraged by a subsequent article on June 1 regarding Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio's 2010 vision. She recognizes Tampa's need to embrace "a whole different way of moving people." She is attempting to garner support for a light-rail system.

This is a bold but desperately needed initiative that will prove less costly than widening roads which, despite our best efforts, will never be able to accommodate an ever-increasing population of commuters.

CHRISTINA CARLEE

Brandon

Basics Already In Place

Regarding "Iorio's 2010 Vision" (Commentary, June 1):

Mayor Iorio must need her glasses checked! I have ridden on a rail system in this state that is modern, clean, fast, safe and 99 percent efficient. It rides smoothly and quietly at tree-top level in any kind of weather - and this is important. It never has to compete with traffic or cross any intersections and, just as important, it does not force taxpayers to pay for land or right of way because we already own right of way at interstates and streets.

The concrete, steel beams and pylons are made right here in Tampa, and spurs and extra cars can be added as needed, so don't let politicians and planners tell you it can't be done or it's too expensive. This system, called a monorail, has been in use since 1973, and hundreds of millions of people have happily used it.

This is what will make Tampa the next great city!

TIM PALEVEDA

Tampa

Light Rail A Necessity

Pam Iorio gave a practical approach to the subject in our seven-county region. So what if we are behind other areas like Charlotte, Denver and Phoenix? We recognize that problem, and by putting our collective minds together we can build a first-class transportation system learning from others.

Please, no more words about the high cost of rail relative to roads. We keep building, building, building and paying, paying, paying for highway construction yet never seem to catch up. Light rail is a necessity for the Tampa Bay metro area. We can do it on our own for the most part, not with CSX as a full-time partner. We can obtain the right of way, lay track and build attractive stations surrounded with new businesses, with arrival and departure schedules that meet people's needs, not for the movement of freight. We can be masters of our own destiny.

LARRY QUIGLEY

Tampa

A Workable Concept

Bravo! References have often been made to a "light-rail system" in past news and articles, but nobody has bothered to define it. Finally, it has been defined by Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio in her 2010 vision.

She said that light rail isn't commuter rail; they are entirely two different things. She went on to say that it is a stand-alone system with multiple stops along its route to allow people to use it to go to work or to partake in other social activities. Operationally, it is a stand-alone system, but it could be structured at appropriate places along its line or at its end points to interface with other transport systems such as commuter rails from Lakeland or Sarasota to extend its regional reach.

Another very important aspect where she has shown considerable insight is concerning transport planning for the Bay area. In terms of congestion and population and urban centers, any light-rail system would necessarily start in the Hillsborough County. The outer connections to abutting counties could come in later where operational requirements such as frequencies and systems could differ.

LANNEY WENN

Dade City

Money Will Be Required

What vapors are in the air at Tampa City Hall that causes politicians to lust after choo-choo trains? It appears that any question containing the word "transportation" can only be answered with trains.

Trains, big, shiny, expensive ones - the ones politicians love - require track. Tracks cost money, and they are placed on rights-of-way that have to be purchased with more money. Trains, track and rights-of-way require grade crossing. Grade crossing, not mentioned in this article, are those things where the bells ring, red lights flash, wooden arms come down and traffic stops while the train/light rail goes by. And all of this has to be insured with - you got it - money. You, gentle taxpayer, will be told the money will come from some nebulous source such as federal funds, state government and "projected" ridership," but never "you." Good luck.

Here's a question. Before we debt-service ourselves, why not try buses? Granted, not as romantic as trains, but cheaper and more flexible. If demand for train ridership diminishes in an area, you're stuck with facilities permanently in place. With buses, you just reroute. Trains may get you close to a destination. Buses get you closer. GARY WEST

St. Petersburg

Union Station Lacking

Regarding "A New Train Of Thought" (Business, June 3):

My wife and I took Amtrak's Silver Star to Washington, D.C., and back Memorial Day, so I'd like to think that we contributed to the "double-digit increases" in ridership reported in this article. Hopefully we will see expanded rail service in Florida as well as the rest of the country. I truly miss the European rail system, and it was with this thought that we booked our adventure by train to Washington.

While we will most likely travel by train again, there was one glaring disappointment - and that was Tampa. The Tampa Union Station may have been refurbished not too long ago, but the inside still is an empty shell devoid of anything. The portico outside leading to the train looked as though it were ready to rot and rust into oblivion at any moment. We didn't see much while leaving Tampa since we were getting situated in our roomette and locating the lounge car, but coming back home to Tampa was depressing and embarrassing.

The view presented to passengers was a combination junkyard, garbage dump and slum. If I were a tourist coming into this terminal, I would definitely scratch Tampa off my list of places to visit.

If you have never taken this trip I would say to do it at least once. Just don't expect much from Tampa.

J.L. RECTOR

Tampa

Routing Must Be Feasible

To add to the article on Amtrak hoping travelers think of taking rail:

The accompanying graphic was of rail lines within Florida, existing and proposed. To really increase the ridership the problem is more what happens when you leave Florida by rail.

I was attempting to find, through the Amtrak Web site, a trip route from Florida to Atlanta and back. Would you believe an almost two-day trip! That type of routing and scheduling will discourage riders. It's too bad because it is a great substitute for the increasing difficulties and cost of flying. And it certainly beats paying the oil cartels huge sums to drive to a vacation or family visit destination.

Living in a Central Florida area that has lost the Greyhound bus route, and having a functioning train station, it is a real shame that it is not easier to travel from here to there by train.

ALICE OLDHAM

Sebring

Having Second Thoughts

Regarding "Stalled Road Projects Point To Rail As Best Hope For New Tampa" (Our Opinion, May 24):

At one time I was one of the strongest supporters of light rail, but I have re-thought that position. That change of mind came as I sat on State Road 217 in Portland, Ore., at rush hour.

Portland is a poster child for light rail, and it has not helped their traffic at all. It suddenly hit me; every city with light rail has severe traffic congestion problems: Portland, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago, to name a few. I wondered, "Has light rail ever worked anywhere?"

One definition of insanity is "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome." Tampa-Hillsborough needs to re-think how to handle the coming traffic problems and think "outside the box." We need to be innovators, not followers of the failed light-rail movement.

CHARLES PALMER

Lutz

Dockery Has Right Idea

Regarding "We'll Catch The Next Train" (Commentary, June 8):

Paula Dockery seems to be on the right track.

Jeb Bush and company appear to have done to the state what his brother did to this country. Dockery and Dennis Ross should be encouraged to clean up the CSX fiasco and then try to undo the other travesties with which the Bush family has endowed Florida. Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean has taken the opposite view - that nothing works better than something.

Out with reactionary forces like Bush and Bean and in with these new 21st-century voices of focus and awareness.

AL JUPITER

Sun City Center

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