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The two Lakeland lawmakers most responsible for sidetracking the state’s commuter rail deal with CSX have written to the top Amtrak official with an invitation to work with them on a new plan.
State Sen. Paula Dockery and state Rep. Dennis Ross, both Republicans, wrote Alexander Kummant, president and CEO of the National Passenger Rail Corporation, which runs Amtrak. The federal rail agency has contracts with 14 states for local passenger services.
They said the Tampa-Orlando-Miami-Jacksonville corridors were the focus of state interest on commuter rail, asking Amtrak’s help in “understanding those options available to us which will allow Florida to quickly and cost effectively implement a reliable intercity passenger rail service” in those corridors.
In the $649 million deal with CSX, the company would have sold 61 miles to the state for a commuter system between DeLand and Poinciana. The commuter trains would have run on the same tracks that Amtrak uses for its Tampa to New York route.
The deal died in the state Senate earlier this month because of opposition to CSX demands that the state accept liability for accidents on the line, which commuter trains would share with CSX freight trains. CSX also wanted legal immunity for whichever company was ultimately selected to provide dispatching and maintenance on the commuter line.
The Senate’s refusal to accept the CSX liability terms “in no way diminishes our desire and need for passenger and rail alternatives,” the lawmakers wrote in the May 15 letter. They asked Kummant to come to Florida for a meeting in Tampa or Lakeland at the end of this month.
In 1979, six Amtrak trains served Tampa Union Station. Because Amtrak’s yearly budget is a joke Today, we’re down to two trains a day! Ironically the Amtrak’s Florida service trains are well patronized. Amazing that Amtrak’s funding to run nationwide service is just a little bit more than that of the New York MTA! A state of affairs, when instead of improving, we’ve gone backward. So ironic that up until 1971, Florida’s west coast enjoyed decent, intrastate service from Jacksonville, Tampa/St.Pete down thru Sarasota and Venice.
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Posted by Sharone Samuda, St. Petersburg, Florida on 05/28 at 04:56 PM
My opinion that a good idea. I love Amtrak trains. Also we desperately need Amtrak train service here in St. Petersburg. My opinion they should have put back the Palmetto to have daily service between St. Petersburg and New York City. Also they should have two commuter routes in Pinellas County to. For example one route should travel between St. Petersburg and Jacksonville. Then the route should travel between St. Petersburg and Miami. Trust we Pinellas County people we need an Amtrak Train service between St. Petersburg and Tampa. Now we have to do is to wait and see what Amtrak does.