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Train Activity Will Increase

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By LAURA KINSLER

lkinsler@tampatrib.com

Published: March 26, 2009

DADE CITY - Dade City will see a 50 percent increase in freight train traffic even if the state's commuter rail deal with CSX falls apart, a rail executive told city commissioners.

Commissioners called a special workshop this week with officials from the Florida Department of Transportation and rail giant CSX to discuss how the proposed SunRail project would affect Dade City. The Florida Legislature is considering a proposal to buy 61 miles of CSX tracks for the state's first commuter rail line in Orlando.

The project would require CSX to reroute more than a dozen freight trains from the A-line to the S-line, which travels through town, on their way to a massive new rail hub in Winter Haven.

Bob O'Malley, CSX vice president for Florida, said Dade City's train traffic would rise from 16 to 24 trains a day. O'Malley said CSX will build the hub within the next five years even if the commuter rail deal fails.

"That's the first time I've heard the two aren't linked," Commissioner Curtis Beebe said.

O'Malley said freight traffic through Dade City will grow, even if the SunRail deal fails. It just won't happen as quickly. "It's a part of our plan to improve efficiency," he said. "It's not linked to the SunRail deal."

However, the traffic will never reach 54 trains a day, he said. That figure represents the S-line maximum capacity if trains were running 24 hours a day.

"That number is completely false," he said. "You would need to triple Florida's population in order for the demand to be there. Train traffic is not driven by capacity; it's driven by demand."

Beebe said those assurances did little to put his mind at ease. "You're still talking about a 50 percent increase," Beebe said. "Every time you talk to someone, you get a different number. No one really knows what the number's going to be."

Several commissioners asked how the railroad planned to mitigate the noise that comes with eight additional trains. "Their response was, we don't do that," city attorney Karla Owens said. "Their position is that the train tracks were there first."
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.

"So the trains won't be stopped in Dade City waiting for some other trains to clear up the line," O'Malley said.

However, if the SunRail deal doesn't go through, Dade City would see increased freight traffic without the benefit of the additional dual tracks. Congestion would be even worse than it is now.

City leaders are concerned about the functionality of Dade City's U.S. 98 Bypass, which runs parallel to the train tracks. They predict 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.

Mayor Scott Black drove DOT District 7 Secretary Don Skelton on the bypass to show him the problem.

"It was perfect timing. It just so happened there was a train stopped on the tracks," Black said. "So he saw the trucks backed up at River Road."

Skelton said the department would "look into the cost" of adding turn lanes on the bypass. Overpasses would not be feasible, he said.

"I understand the concern - particularly with right turns at River Road and MLK," he said.

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

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