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Effect Of CSX Commuter Line Worries Dade City's Leaders

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By LAURA KINSLER

lkinsler@tampatrib.com

Published: March 8, 2009

DADE CITY - City commissioners are keeping an eye on Tallahassee as state legislators debate the $1.2 billion commuter rail deal with railroad giant CSX.

The 61-mile commuter rail line serving Orlando and its suburbs would have a direct effect on Dade City because dozens of additional freight trains could be rerouted directly through the town on their way to a massive new rail hub in Winter Haven.

City Commissioner Curtis Beebe worries that Dade City has been too slow to anticipate the problems additional rail traffic on the "S-line" could bring. The plan includes about $300 million for CSX to make improvements on the S-line to accommodate as many as 54 trains a day.

Fifty-four "trains a day means we're going to have a train every half-hour," Beebe said. "If it takes 10 minutes for the train to pass, what is that going to mean for our traffic? This is a big issue, and we need to get out ahead of it."

CSX Spokesman Gary Sease said the immediate impact would be significantly less.

He said freight traffic through Dade City initially would grow from 16 trains a day to about 20. Beyond that, it is unclear how much CSX expects freight traffic on the S-line to grow. SunRail proponents say that CSX would have to run trains 24 hours a day to reach 54 a day - something that is virtually impossible.
Freight trains traveling through town often stop in Dade City because it has one of the only sections of dual tracks on the S-line, and trains going in different directions must use dual tracks to pass. It's not uncommon for trains to block intersections for up to 45 minutes while they wait for another train to pass.

As part of the rail deal with the state, dual tracks would be added north and south of Dade City to accommodate the future demand.
Sease said trains would continue to stop at the Dade City Business Center, an industrial park north of downtown, to serve customers there, but passing trains would be able to utilize the new sections of dual tracks, lessening the time roads are blocked.

Although communities in Alachua, Sumter and Marion counties would get new rail overpasses as part of the deal, the plan includes no improvements for railroad crossings in Dade City.

The need for an overpass was heightened this week when a CSX train derailed after colliding with a truck at a railroad crossing just south of Dade City.
Beebe said he's also concerned about the functionality of Dade City's U.S. 98 Bypass, which runs parallel to the train tracks. He predicts the bypass traffic will get congested near busy railroad crossings, such as River Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard. The two-lane bypass does not have turn lanes at those intersections.

"Those crossings will be blocked," Beebe said. "Any cars that want to cross over will have to wait on the bypass."

The Florida Department of Transportation has no plans to improve the U.S. 98 Bypass.

"We need to negotiate with DOT now to widen the bypass because the trains back up the traffic," Mayor Scott Black said. "We need some kind of overpass."
Beebe also worries about the noise that would come with the additional freight trains. "People say after a while you don't hear it anymore," he said. "Maybe if you have four or five a day, it's kind of romantic or old fashioned or soothing. But 54 a day?"

State Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, has been a vocal critic of the CSX deal, which would send those same freight trains through downtown Lakeland.

"Even if commuter rail goes through, I think the communities along the S-line could say we don't want those capacity improvements," Dockery said. "Why are we, the taxpayers, making capacity improvements for a for-profit company so they can lessen our quality of life?"
Sease said CSX is negotiating with Lakeland to establish a "quiet zone" that would prohibit the blowing of train whistles in the downtown area. The only other noise mitigation would take place near Winter Haven.

Black, who chairs Pasco County's Metropolitan Planning Organization, thinks Dade City is in a good position to be able to ask for concessions, but he doesn't want to rock the boat too hard.

"We need to think regionally on this," Black said. "We may not want more trains running through town, but we don't want to prevent Tampa from having mass transit."
Beebe said he respects Black's position. "I understand, Scott is trying to be a good regional citizen," he said. "But to me, just as a resident and a citizen, I think the whole deal is kind of stinky."
CSX Florida Vice President Bob O'Malley and Ming Gao, multimodal systems administrator for DOT, are scheduled to be in Dade City for a special workshop with commissioners prior to their March 24 meeting.

Dockery said it's not too late for Dade City to lobby its legislators for some transportation improvements, but the city is unlikely to get a rail overpass. "I don't see where the money is going to be available," she said.

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 779-4617.

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