Passenger Trains > [FL] Sprint sues BrightLine

over fees Sprint claims are owed for work done to relocate communications conduits near the FEC tracks. This work is in the Miami to West Palm segment.

I mentioned a while back that the formerly two track FEC main in Palm Beach County and Martin County hosts a number of phone conduits, natural gas lines, etc under the right of way. There are regular, visible markers of same. In order to add a second track, etc, agreements to relocate these services will be needed


http://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/shaping-our-future/all-aboard-florida/2017/07/19/all-aboard-owes-640-k-according-sprint-lawsuit/491333001/

Seems like if FEC owns the right of way and I believe that they do own the right of way, Sprint and other user(s) of said right are tenant's. They pay for the use of the right of way, probably one contract for a particular if not all segments. That contract probably contains a rental agreement so Sprint could hold back or offset payment. It is also possible that AAF is a tenant to on the FEC depending on their corporate structure.

PennPlat Wrote:
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> Seems like if FEC owns the right of way and I
> believe that they do own the right of way, Sprint
> and other user(s) of said right are tenant's.
> They pay for the use of the right of way, probably
> one contract for a particular if not all segments.
> That contract probably contains a rental agreement
> so Sprint could hold back or offset payment. It
> is also possible that AAF is a tenant to on the
> FEC depending on their corporate structure.

I'd agree with this. My understanding is FECR/FECI owns the right of way. They leased the former right of way rail space to Sprint, AT&T, etc. Sprint then agreed to let BrightLine lay tracks.

Sprint's contract with BrightLine says that if Sprint or the other tenants have to relocate their stuff to accommodate BrightLine, BrightLine will pay Sprint to do the changes. It's the how much do I pay that's causing the problem.

(That's going to be a big problem in northern Palm Beach County and Martin County etc.)

Then another question could be, did Sprint move existing fiber optic or abandon existing after trenching and installing new fiber optic? Seems like I remember seeing fiber optic reels in the past year or so along the right of way on Federal Highway at Hypoluxo or Gateway Rd. So the cost could be higher because they had to purchase new cable leaving old cable under the railway right of way.

This is the same as an easement a cable company rents for space on a telephone pole from an electric utility. If the electric utility want's to replace the pole the cable company has to pay their fare share. Sprint has no money for something like this and the only way to negotiate it down is to try to sue. Cable companies do this everyday.

Nothing more nothing less....

Utility relocation is a HUGE issue with any project and can be a determining factor on whether a project is completed on time.
A project I'm working has a relatively complicated utility relocation. 8 different companies lines all are to be moved by end of this month. Some have been given 2 years to get work done. We are at a point where if they aren't moved by end of month the prime contractor is going to abandon work for the rest of the year. The entire cause of the problem comes down to CSX and their engineering firm's lack of communication. We finally went to the State and asked for their assistance in getting permits for access from CSX. Things have finally started to go in the right direction. We will see in the next two weeks if the last few holdouts get finished in time.

Btw if anyone is wondering CSX and their firm has a terrible reputation for getting permits while NS and their firm are generally easy to work with and are very proactive in getting contractors everything they need to get work done.

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I have a project on railroad right of way that also has two fiber cables running below ground. The fiber companies have been clueless with respect to where their facilities are horizontally or vertically, where the nearest splice locations are, or any sort of information that might be of use. I think part of this was due to the initial installation of these cables as there was a tremendous rush to get the cables installed and operating. Documentation of where and how deep the cables were buried was hastily compiled if it was compiled at all. The other issue is with the rapid changeover in the fiber business as companies merged/demerged leading to a loss of institutional knowledge.

The merge / demerge process wiped out a generation of knowledge. But created a generation of subject matter consultants.

Often the same people, but paid much more.

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