A study for the Florida Department of Transportation envisions $12 million in annual savings on a new commuter rail line connecting Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
The proposal follows FDOT Secretary Ananth Prasad's vision for public-private partnerships "where we can expand service, lower the cost to the taxpayer, all while providing quality services to the customer."
Gov. Rick Scott told Sunshine State News on Monday, "If the private sector can do something better, we're going to make sure we look at all our options."
But a national transportation expert and Tri-Rail officials, who said they were not invited to participate in the projections of a second commuter line, warned that the "devil is in the details."
HRD Inc., a planning consultant for FDOT, estimated that a double-tracked, 24.8-mile stretch along the Florida East Coast Railway corridor between the Miami Government Center and the Fort Lauderdale Government Center would operate at a "best case" cost of $40.7 million a year.
Currently, Tri-Rail operations between the two cities run $52.9 million annually. Tri-Rail uses CSX tracks.
"If they're looking to save money, more power to them. But there are serious problems with this," said Wendell Cox, who heads Demographia, a St. Louis-based transportation consulting firm.
"I doubt that FEC is prepared to run without a subsidy. And if you give a monopoly, you can bet they won't continue when things get bad."
Cox said the HRD study was correct in contending that Tri-Rail's administrative overhead could be reduced.
"The problem is not Tri-Rail operations. Administrative costs are out of control," he declared.
But Cox said that true market-based competition -- not another government-sanctioned monopoly -- is needed.
State Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, a critic of the newly approved SunRail commuter line in Central Florida, suspects "another secretive deal is in the works."
"FEC sees CSX getting hundreds of millions of dollars [for right-of-way] handed to them [for SunRail]. They want a piece of the action," she said.
"At the core, this benefits another for-profit freight company," Dockery charged.
FEC officials were not immediately available for comment. Previously, corporate spokesman Husein Cumber issued a statement, saying:
"The Florida East Coast Railway has regular discussions with FDOT on various infrastructure projects throughout the state. With respect to passenger service, we continue to focus our conversations with FDOT on developing options to introduce commuter rail service within the FEC corridor."
Scott said the HRD-FDOT report is part of a statewide initiative to study public-sector costs.
The governor declined to say if the state had locked in on FEC for a second South Florida commuter line.
"I don't know if FEC has the inside track or not. We want to make sure everyone has an opportunity," Scott said.
Kristin Jacobs, chair of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees Tri-Rail, disputed the study's administrative-cost comparisons, pegged the system's overhead at a relatively lean 9 percent while 81 percent of its operational expenses are handled through competitive bids.
According to the HRD report, Tri-Rail's maintenance costs are "generallyconsistent" with the 12 other commuter-rail systems across the country.
Tri-Rail's average operating cost per passenger trip was $12.52, compared with an average of $12.09 by the other systems.
Jacobs said her agency has no problems discussing use of FEC tracks, but added, "The devil is in the details."
"To put passenger service on FEC tracks would costs hundreds of millions of dollars. You would have to run multiple tracks and it's questionable whether the federal government would give money for double-tracking to a private concern," said Jacobs, who also serves on the Broward County Commission.
If the CSX corridor were abandoned in favor of an FEC alignment, the state would likely have to repay $250 million in grant funds to the federal government for failing to maintain service at existing stations.
Cox said a new Miami-Fort Lauderdale line might work "if FEC pledged its corporate equity, with guarantees of no subsidies and no reduction in the current level of service."
But Cox isn't holding his breath.
"You see all sorts of promises up front. Look at the rail systems in Jacksonville and Miami, which have obscene cost overruns and chronically underreach ridership projections.
"Taxpayers are always left holding the bag," he said.
Saying it was "obnoxious" that Tri-Rail officials were kept out of the loop, Dockery said the HRD-FDOT study raised many unanswered questions about its methodology and intent.
"Let's see it all on paper. Let's put it through the Legislature, with all the financials before us," she said.
Tri-Rail officials said its consultants were reviewing the HRD study and expected to have an initial response by the end of the week.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
