Passenger Trains > "Central Florida 'Sunrail' plan gets backing....."

Feb. 5 news blurb from RAILWAY AGE Magazine:
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Central Florida 'Sunrail' plan gets backing, brickbats

Led by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, officials are striving to generate support for the 61-mile , four-county commuter rail plan in central Florida, now christened "Sunrail."

"We keep talking about the economy," said Volusia County Chairman Frank Bruno, who attended a news conference Wednesday in Tallahassee, the state capital, where supporters of Sunrail held a rally. “This will sure fire up our economy."

A measure to advance the project, being introduced into this year’s session of the state legislature, eliminates a controversial provision that would have shielded private contractors from legal liability if they caused accidents on rail line. Florida plans to contract with private companies to operate the system, and the change in plan has removed opposition by trial lawyers, who argued contractors should be held liable if they are at fault.

But other opponents of the project, who garnered enough support last year in the state legislature to stymie the proposal, still say that Sunrail is too costly and a "sweetheart deal" for CSX Transportation. Labor, including the state chapter of the AFL-CIO, opposes the deal for fear that non-union employees would be used to operate Sunrail service.

The state had agreed to pay CSX $615 million to purchase rights-of-way for the service, as well as $491 million to augment CSX freight and intermodal capacity in the state.

A poll conducted by Ayres McHenry & Associates Jan. 27-29 says more than 60% of 641 Florida residents surveyed oppose state funding for Sunrail, with nearly the same percentage saying the state legislature should oppose the deal without any attempts to modify it.

But a Florida Department of Transportation spokesman says FDOT and rail allies also have conducted a survey "which shows different results." Hill Research Consultants last October surveyed 502 respondents showing "strong support among the citizenry ... proceeding with development of a commuter rail in Central Florida."