For 20 years, there have been sporadic calls to move (freight)train traffic out of downtown Orlando, but the effort has never picked up steam. It’s a great idea, offcials say, but no one has been willing to take on the tab, which could top $400 million.
“…The best chance for moving freight may come if local leaders decide to run commuter rail through Orlando. Already, John Mica, R-CSX [OK, that's mine] has secured about $8 million in federal money…
“…”It’ll have to be tied to a mass transit project,” Mica said. “That’s the only way.” [That, and finding a state Department of Transportation willing to dump one city's problem onto another with no warning, discussion, or mitigation.]
Again, not a passenger rail deal, folks. It begins and ends with freight rail, as Mica himself so elegantly puts it. None of this is new. I reported these basic facts back when I worked for The Trib.
http://www.lakelandlocal.com/2008/12/the-almost-charmingly-relentless-bad-faith-of-the-orlando-sentinels-editorial-page/
Orlando wanted freight rail out of Orlando and had to sweeten the deal for CSX to agree. It wasn't initially about commuter rail at all.
