Florida seeks to link high-speed, commuter rail lines

Two train systems meant to usher in a new era of transportation in Metro Orlando, Fla., are slated to run along separate tracks that will intersect west of Orlando International Airport, the Orlando Sentinel reports. But, as it stands, there is no planned connection where passengers from the $1.2-billion SunRail commuter train could transfer to the $2.6-billion high-speed train or vice versa. How is that possible?

Train supporters say they
are now working on a link, which potentially would increase ridership for both
systems. But it appears little thought initially was given to bringing the
trains together because few ever thought the projects would happen, much less
at about the same time. SunRail, after all, was defeated twice in the state
Legislature, and high-speed-rail proposals had failed repeatedly during several
decades.

As longtime transportation
planner Dave Grovdahl of MetroPlan in downtown Orlando said, "How many
people were expecting high-speed rail to be a funded project?"

But the election of
President Barack Obama — a high-speed-rail fan — coupled with the $787-billion
stimulus package passed by Congress last year resulted in money to create the
fast train planned to run from OIA to Tampa. The promise of high-speed dollars
also helped prompt Florida lawmakers to approve SunRail on the third try in
December. The Obama administration awarded $1.25 billion to Florida’s
high-speed bid little more than a month later.

Construction could begin
late this year on SunRail, expected to link DeLand in Volusia County with
downtown Orlando and Poinciana in Osceola County by 2015. The high-speed train
could be running by 2015, too. That has led area officials to push the state
Department of Transportation, overseeing both ventures, to link the two. That
will take a change of attitude, said Ed Turanchik, a former Hillsborough County
commissioner and director of ConnectUs, a pro-high-speed lobbying group.

"Florida has never had
a serious rail plan," Turanchik said. "It’s always been a cobbling of
projects."

There are two major
roadblocks to bringing the two trains together: money and logistics. SunRail
will be paid for with federal, state and local money. The state and local
governments stretched to cover their portion of the bill and are looking at
budget cuts and layoffs. So city and county leaders say they have no more to
give.

High speed is $1.4 billion
short of paying for the 84-mile system. The $1.25 billion, experts say, is
enough to pay for the foundation of the line, which should take about two to
three years to complete.

Federal Railroad
Administration Director Joe Szabo said during a news conference last week that
his agency intends to send more money — though he did not specify how much —
to Florida for high speed. He called the first grant a "down
payment."

"The $1.25 billion
doesn’t mean much," he said, "if we don’t get trains operating
between Tampa and the airport."

The most logical source to
pay for a connection would be the federal government, which, Szabo said, wants
to create jobs building a high-speed-rail network nationwide. Ultimately, Szabo
said, the Obama administration wants to reduce oil consumption while offering
travelers an option other than cars or planes.

But before asking for
money, state and local officials must figure out where and how to connect the
trains — and how much that might cost.

Orange County Mayor Rich
Crotty said a working link has to be established because the trains will be
Central Florida’s introduction to rail transit. "We only get one bite of
the apple, and we need to do it right," said Crotty, who wrote a letter to
the state DOT encouraging them to bring the systems together. Botch the
connection, he added, and "all credibility is lost forever."

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer
said there are a handful of options for FDOT to consider, including using
tracks owned by the Orlando Utilities Commission that ferry coal trains to the
Curtis Stanton power plant east of OIA. Those tracks, Dyer said, run close to
the high-speed-rail station that would be built at OIA, providing a possible
corridor for a link. Another idea would be building a stop near where the two
lines cross each other.

A third choice would be
running a bus from the SunRail stop at Sand Lake Road to OIA, about a six-mile
journey. Few like that idea because it would cause travelers, many presumably
with baggage, to go from train to bus to train — a scenario that would
discourage transfers, experts say.

"I think people will
use trains, but you have to make it dependable and convenient," said James
McCommons, a journalism professor at the University of Northern Michigan who
rode Amtrak for 26,000 miles and wrote a book about the experience.

SunRail and high-speed rail
have to connect, McCommons said, because "if people are going to use them,
they have to be able to use them conveniently."