CSX Railroad runs two major freight lines south into Florida. The A Line runs through Jacksonville, Deland, Sanford, Orlando and Haines City. The S line runs further inland, through Starke, Ocala, Wildwood, Dade City, Plant City and Lakeland. CSX wants to sell Florida 61.5 miles of the A Line around Orlando, allowing Central Florida to create the spine of a commuter-rail line.

The project will cost a minimum of $1.2 billion, though many costs remain unaccounted for. With $650 million budgeted for the rail purchase, Florida will pay the highest price ever for railroad tracks.

Even still, the deal allows CSX to retain exclusive use of the tracks for five hours at night and share them seven hours during the day.

In other words, for 12 hours of exclusive use, the state will buy and operate the tracks, double -track the Orlando route, build CSX a new hub in Winter Haven, rebuild its tracks in areas across the state, pay its liability insurance premiums and cover nearly all the damages from any accidents it causes. And that’s not all.

To re-route freight trains off the A-line, taxpayers will pay to transform the S line into a freight super-railway. CSX wants the capacity to send 54 trains a day along this second line – through Central Florida’s smaller cities and towns, which never had a say in the matter.

That’s right. As you’ll learn elsewhere on this Web site, this mega-deal was negotiated behind closed doors between railroad executives and former-Gov. Jeb Bush’s staff. Negatively affected communities knew nothing about the negotiations until Bush announced the deal was done.

In Lakeland, the tracks bisect a charming and newly redeveloped downtown. They also separate emergency medical providers from the nearest hospital. Already, when one of 16 daily trains breaks down – not an infrequent occurrence – downtown pedestrians must climb between train cars to cross the street.



The 2009 Florida Legislature faces a hundred-year decision, similar to the 1950s, when Congress created the interstate highway system and forever divided neighborhoods whose voices weren't considered.

Lawmakers should remember that people want government to tighten its belt, not grow in size by buying and running a railroad. And remember, this deal was negotiated more than four years ago, before the economic earthquake.

Floridians are in this together. And citizens want leaders to address congestion - and transportation strategies - in meaningful ways.

Only by working together can we find the Right Track For Florida.