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CSX Corp.'s deal with the state to sell 61 miles of track in Central Florida for a commuter rail system is off after the Florida Legislature did not approve a bill with provisions that the proposed sale hinged on.
CSX's plans to invest $40 million on a North Main Street bypass connecting its Northeast Jacksonville rail spur to its main line along U.S. 1 will be affected by the commuter rail deal's collapse because the company was counting on funding the plan with cash from the sale, the company has said.
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Considering the number of reporters covering Saturday's headline story, "Train Wreck," I am wondering why no one mentioned the "immunity clause," which essentially put the brakes on the commuter rail-CSX deal.
The transportation bill that failed in the Senate on Friday bent over backward to accommodate CSX.
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When the Florida Legislature's regular session ended Friday, the CSX train did not arrive. Florida Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster wanted so desperately to be the celebrated engineer who barreled a made-in-secret transportation deal through the legislative session. In doing so, he would bring commuter rail home to the Orlando area and his home district.
Instead, the ending was more like the fate of the Old 97, the train officially known as the "Fast Mail," that left the tracks near Danville, Va., in 1903. Too much speed on too steep a grade.
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Florida Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster and other proponents of the controversial $641 million corporate welfare deal for CSX finally waved the white flag on Friday.
"Central Florida wanted to have commuter rail. It's not going to happen," Webster said during a debate of the proposal, under which the state would lease 61.5 miles of CSX track for a commuter rail line serving Orlando, on the Senate floor in the Legislature's closing hours. "The federal money will disappear. We tried."
Yes, supporters of this deal certainly tried to bring this plan to fruition. Let's take a look at what some in the Legislature tried.
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Judging from the solid waste generated by some first-rate public relations flackery, you would think the good citizens of Central Florida arise every morning and gaze longingly out their windows in the unrequited hope that someday soon a CSX choo-choo will come blowing by to turn their pastureland into a teaming hub of locomotion.
As the Florida Legislature contemplated forking over nearly $700 million to CSX in a cooked-up-in-secret game of spin the pol to purchase some 61 miles of rail line in the Orlando area, the Central Florida Partnership attempted to make the whole thing look like the Treaty of Versailles meets the Louisiana Purchase.
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Tri-Rail riders may be facing no weekend service and a 60 percent cut in weekday trains in the fall, after the state Legislature failed Friday to pass a major commuter rail bill that jeopardizes funding for the South Florida train.
Tri-Rail has been battling for years to get the Legislature to approve a dedicated funding source so that it doesn't have to seek money annually from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
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TAMPA - Backers of a controversial commuter rail deal in Orlando worked hard to gain allies in the last weeks of the legislative session, offering the enticement that its passage would help Tampa get its own rail system.
And when the deal to buy tracks from CSX Transportation died on Friday, the U.S. congressman who pushed hardest from behind the scenes said the Tampa area would suffer. John Mica, a Republican from near Orlando, said Tampa had been "next in line for a commuter rail, mass transit and other infrastructure projects."
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Congressman John Mica, a Republican from central Florida, sent the following letter to lawmakers today, containing a pretty clear threat that federal lawmakers will punish the state if the Orlando commuter rail deal fails:
“As the Legislature concludes its business, it is absolutely imperative that the legislature grant final approval to proceed with the Central Florida Commuter Rail project. Failure to do so will have dire consequences affecting all transportation projects and federal transportation and infrastructure revenues to the state, affecting all districts.
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Published by the Lakeland Ledger, May 2, 2008 (theledger.com)
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TAMPA - Bobby Lightfoot braced himself as the train engineer hit the brakes in the Polk County rail yard, but the hard stop rippled through the railroad cars to where Lightfoot stood, throwing him over a railing and onto the pavement 8 feet below.
On the way to Brandon Regional Hospital later, one of Lightfoot's bosses at CSX Transportation told him what to do - to keep the company from having to report his injury to the federal government.
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TALLAHASSEE | The future of commuter rail in Orlando grew shakier Wednesday when one of the project's strongest supporters abruptly decided lawmakers would not need to make any moves this year to let the $641 million deal proceed.
Senators were scheduled for a showdown vote Wednesday on a bill containing dozens of unrelated changes to law. But by far, the most controversial was a move to exempt CSX Transportation from legal liability for passengers and commuter trains on the proposed 61.5-mile line from DeLand to Poinciana.
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For Additional Articles and Information, Please Visit the News Archives
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· If CSX Deal Holds, Lakeland Stands to Lose Much of Downtown Charm (May 01, 2008)
· Solve Lakeland CSX Problem (May 01, 2008)
· Light Rail Not Worth It (May 01, 2008)
· One More Reason To Pull CSX Deal (Apr 30, 2008)
· Florida's CFO Criticizes Railroad Deal (Apr 29, 2008)
· If Tampa Bay has commuter options, will we use them? (Apr 29, 2008)
· Bill Giving Railroad Immunity Is Simply Ludicrous (Apr 28, 2008)
· Tri-Rail needs deal to avoid cuts (Apr 28, 2008)
· Something For Everyone (Apr 28, 2008)
· Rail Bill to Be Simplified (Apr 27, 2008)
More in News Archives
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