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Make a smart bet on a fast train

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2009

A special December session of the Legislature is being pushed by Gov. Charlie Crist and Senate President Jeff Atwater to show the Obama administration that Florida is serious about supporting rail transit.

Assuming lawmakers are indeed serious, it's a good idea. All indications are that a key factor in winning the competition for a share of $8 billion for high-speed rail will be a commitment to funding local and regional rail projects.

Florida's risk in convening the Legislature is that lawmakers will send Washington the wrong message. That could spell disaster.

Strong, principled opposition remains to the 61-mile SunRail commuter line, from DeLand through Orlando to Kissimmee. State Sen. Paula Dockery of Polk County has led the resistance. She calls it a bad deal for her county and for state taxpayers.

A short special session is unlikely to resolve her concerns about this specific project.

But Crist and Atwater are right that Florida needs to send a clear message, and soon, if it hopes to get $2.5 billion to build a high-speed train from downtown Tampa to Orlando International Airport.

The key is to ask the right question. Already the state has reserved right of way for the train and could have it operating sooner than rival projects starting from scratch.

That should be enough to beat the competition, but it might not be. What the Legislature should do in December is create a dedicated funding source for rail transit that could be used by counties, regions or the state for worthy projects, including the rapid rail line, should projections be off and operating subsidies prove needed.

Lawmakers should avoid getting mired in a debate over the costs and benefits of SunRail, which is a separate project entirely from rapid rail.

Taxing possibilities include an increase in fuel taxes or a surcharge on rental cars. The tax could be passed contingent on winning federal support for high-speed rail.

The rapid rail project will lead to future federal grants when the line is extended to Miami and ultimately Jacksonville. It would create jobs and help the economy of central Florida and the entire state.

Links to strong local transit systems are important but not essential for the fast, city-to-city train to succeed. The airports in Tampa and Orlando have no links to local rail yet they together serve more than 50 million passengers a year. Neither local rail systems planned in Tampa and Orlando connect to the airports in their initial phases.

Charlotte's new rail line does not link to its busy airport, nor does the city have immediate plans to do so.

But the fact that a rapid-rail station would be much like an airport is not the point. For Florida, the need for visible support for rail transit has political significance that the state ignores at its peril. The question has come up and to dismiss it would plant doubt in the minds of leaders who matter, including U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood

Florida has an historic opportunity to stop the hemorrhaging of its federal tax dollars to transit projects in other states. It has a chance to go first on a project that will draw international attention.

At stake is who will build the best ground transportation system in the Western Hemisphere, says Ed Turanchik, a former Hillsborough County commissioner and leader of a private group promoting the rapid-rail project.

He calls the project a "game changer" for business growth and tourism.

It can be argued that the federal government can't afford to build rail lines, but the fact is that the money has been set aside. It will be spent somewhere, and wherever it is invested, more will follow.

The safest and best way to play the game is to call Washington's bluff by showing them a source of local money.

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