John Mica Votes Against Funding for Sun Rail

In true form, as a representative of the Party of NO, John Mica votes against funding for Sun Rail, ........ he votes NO on the stimulus package.

Then John Mica has the nerve to brag about the funding the stimulus package "might" create for Sun Rail:

“The total appropriation for transit systems includes $750 million for the New Starts program,” Mica said. “Nationally, the Central Florida Commuter Rail project is next in line for final approval and federal funding from the Federal Transit Administration.
“The timing couldn’t be better. All the project needs is the State Legislature’s approval of the CSX-Florida Department of Transportation liability agreement,” Mica said.

And apparently Mica has also had the gall to brag about the highspeed rail funding that was put into the stimulus bill by Senator Harry Reid. So lets get this straight,......again John Mica voted AGAINST this highspeed rail funding and then turns around to brag about the funding being in the stimulus plan:

Rep. John Mica was gushing after the House of Representatives voted Friday to pass the big stimulus plan.
"I applaud President Obama's recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America's future," the Florida Republican beamed in a press release.
Yet Mica had just joined every other GOP House member in voting against the $787.2 billion economic recovery plan.
Republicans echoed their party line over and over during the debate: "This bill is loaded with wasteful deficit spending on the majority's favorite government programs," as Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., put it.

How do you explain that?

Mike Steel, a spokesman for House GOP Leader John Boehner of Ohio, at first ducked when asked about Mica and Young issuing press releases praising the bill
they'd opposed.
"I don't work for Mica or Young," Steel said initially.

So there you have it Mica was for the rail spending, before he was against it, before he was for it....

You figure it out.
One thing is for sure,.....Mica is against creating jobs or he would have voted YES on the stimulus bill.

BTW John Mica and Don Young have been connected before on questionable earmark spending in the case of another famous transportation pet project: The Coconut Road Earmark

John Mica Wastes Tax Payer Monies with Cronyism

This comes from the Tampa Tribune titled Commuter Rail Falters Again As Supplier Fails

When Florida Department of Transportation officials chose a Colorado company early last year to build 10 railcars for its new Orlando commuter system, they knew the company was in financial trouble.Nevertheless, the department moved forward with the $45 million contract, and is having to scramble now that Colorado Railcar went out of business at the end of the year. The state had to rewrite the railcar proposal to get new companies to bid.The last-minute change is one more stumble in the state's controversial efforts to bring commuter rail to Orlando. Last May, state lawmakers rejected an agreement with CSX Transportation, the company planning to sell tracks to the state for the $1.2 billion, 61-mile system. The agreement would have freed CSX from responsibility if one of its (freight)trains caused a commuter accident while using the tracks.

Hmmm, now they want old-fashioned locomotive-hauled trains instead of CA Marin county's choice for light rail cars below? So much for John Mica's rhetoric of getting Florida into the 21st Century! Bulgaria and other so-called lesser advanced countries are light years ahead of us, but then again they don't have to worry about pleasing CSX.

The state originally advertised the railcar bid invitation in February. It was so narrowly written that Colorado Railcar was the only company that qualified. In a Tampa Tribune story about the purchase, state officials said the company produced precisely the kind of railcar it wanted for the Orlando system. It's a fuel-efficient vehicle that combines the engine and seating in one unit but is also sturdy enough to withstand a collision with a freight train. The revised bid is for the more traditional locomotive-hauled train.

Meanwhile Marin county in CA found a better solution, which is far more energy efficient and environmentally clean:

The closure ( of Colorado Railcar) may have little effect on SMART, which can choose to run lighter, European-built, diesel-powered rail cars instead. If the rail agency chooses to stay with the heavier cars, however, Siemens Transportation of Germany is planning to develop and build such cars at its Sacramento plant, filling the void left by Colorado Railcar."It is part of our growth strategy and product development plan," said Frank Guzzo, business development director in Sacramento. "we clearly see a niche market."Voters in Sonoma and Marin counties approved a quarter-cent sales tax increase in November, and SMART is now looking to start Cloverdale-to-Larkspur service in 2014.

SMART is planning to request proposals for its rail cars within the next two months and award a purchase contract next year.The transit district has budgeted $88 million for 14 self-propelled, diesel-powered rail cars. The cars will take two to three years to build.SMART initially had specified the Colorado Railcar vehicles, which are classed as heavy rail, diesel-powered vehicles, in its 2006 environmental impact report.However, in a 2008 supplemental report, SMART indicated that it could also use lightweight European-style rail cars by running freight train service in off hours."The major difference between the two is how they operate in conjunction with freight on the same corridor," Coursey said. "To use the light cars, you need to have time separation, they cannot be operating at the same time as freight."

The most popular lightweight cars available are made by Siemens in Germany.There are 12 of them in use by the North Coast Transit District in San Diego on its 22-mile Sprinter service from Oceanside to Escondido.District spokesman Tom Kelleher said the freight service runs at night on the Southern California tracks to meet the federal rules against running lightweight cars and freight together. The lightweight cars are
not as crash resistant as heavy-rail cars.

While Mica's Pet Project is dragging on, bending over backwards for CSX's freight needs is clearly not in our best interest.Here is what the President of the Passenger Rail Asociation said when Colorado Railcar had been selected by Florida DOT:

Since Colorado Railcar announced production of its new vehicle in 2002, only
three transit agencies - in Florida, Oregon and Alaska - have purchased any.They're expensive, said Paul Dyson, president of the Passenger Rail Association of California and Nevada. They cost about twice as much as the locomotive-passenger car combination. And although they use less fuel than thelocomotive train, they use more fuel than other DMUs. That's because ColoradoRailcar had to beef up its vehicles to meet the federal crash standards."If Iwere a Florida taxpayer, I'd be asking the state if they've looked at every alternative," Dyson said.

And Siemens' Frank Guzzo typified the selection process as a done deal favoring Colorado Rail:

One of the potential bidders was a Korean company, Rotem, that designs crash-worthy DMUs and has a U.S. plant. It was planning to build cars for theRaleigh, N.C., commuter system until federal funding for that project fellthrough. Its cars, however, have only one level, and Florida officials said theyneed bilevel cars for the Orlando system.
Another company, Siemens, was also interested and proposed scheduling freight and commuter trains at different times so the state could use the company's lighter DMU. But the state said no, said Siemens' Frank Guzzo."There could have been other ways to approach the project. We had offered an alternative," Guzzo said. But the state "was fixatedon this one approach."

Lobbying Connections:

By 2002, Mica was pushing a new plan to use existing CSX freight tracks - and
Colorado Railcar vehicles.The railcars weren't in service, but Mica had met
Rader and was intrigued by his efforts to build a new kind of railcar. He can't
recall where he met Rader.
A September 2002 news release on Mica's Web site announced that he "had secured $8 million for ... a national demonstration of a new commuter rail technology." It said he planned to show off an example of that technology, a Colorado Railcar DMU, in Orlando the next month. ( ***Does everyone see the lie in Mica's announcement)
The amount was down to $4 million by the time the transportation bill with the earmark passed in early 2003.
In August 2003, after Congress approved the railcar earmark, the law firm Greenberg, Traurig registered to lobby for Colorado Railcar.
One of the Colorado Railcar lobbyists was Duane Gibson, former chief aid toU.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who was chairman of the House TransportationCommittee from 2001 to 2007. Gibson continued to represent the company after heleft the law
firm.
"I spoke to Duane about Colorado Railcar," Mica said. "I can't remember if they were looking for someone to represent them or what." He also can't remember precisely when it was, but he said he is sure Gibson was not at Greenberg, Traurig at the time.Tom Rader founded Colorado Railcar and was removed as its president thisyear. Since 2003, Rader and his company have reported spending nearly $300,000on lobbyists and federal campaign contributions. Rader gave Mica's politicalcampaigns a total of $3,000 for 2004 and 2005.Mica angrily denied that lobbying or campaign contributions had anything todo with his position. "My relationship with the company has been nothing butabove the board," he said.

The company spent its own money developing a new kindof fuel-efficient railcar and deserves government help, Mica said.

Pretty fishy if you ask me! I wish we had some investigative reporters dig up some more on this. Could turn out to be a really big national scandal.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jul/20/200015/na-railcar-deal-missing-key-component-the-tracks/c_2/#comments
And here is a final revealing comment made in the comment section of the TBO to the above story:

Why is FDOT and Congressman Mica's CSX mainline trackage in Orlando is worth $420 million for 61 miles while the EJ&E Railroad in Chicago isselling 200 miles
of their mainline for only $300 million to the CanadianNational RR. Could this
be more of those educational "improvements" in fuzzymath that Jeb was able to
accomplish with his educational system "reforms"?
And please explain why Illinois' and Indiana' Senators and Representatives havecalled in the "key Federal railroad regulatory agency" to review their ChicagoCN-EJ&E rail transaction but the Surface Transportation Board is conspicuously absent in Florida to deal with the Orlando CSX-EVWN transaction?Sounds like the Tampa Tribune is doing some outstanding investigative reportingon your choo choo friends! Keep up the great work. The rest of Florida's media outlets may be missing the next Watergate in progress, all he"King's" men may fall.

And oh by the way, I want to be able to ride trains inFlorida just like
they do in California, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, NewYork, Virginia and a
host of other states, but we won't get them here untilsomeone cleans up this CSX
mess. Thanks Trib for bringing out the mop.

Kerry-Specter High Speed Rail Bill

Initiatives on High-Speed Rail taking place absent John Mica. While John Mica is making pro-forma visits to the Tampa Bay Area nudging local officials to get their mass transit plans ready for federal funding, major initiatives are already in the works......

The press release on the Kerry-Specter high-speed rail bill:
Kerry-Specter Bill Would Create Jobs, Stimulus, Infrastructure Investment
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor Ed Rendell Applaud National High-Speed Rail Initiative
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) introduced a bill to create new jobs by updating the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. The High-Speed Rail for America Act of 2008 would transform America’s outdated and underfunded passenger rail system into a world class system.

“At a time when our economy desperately needs a jumpstart, we need an effective national investment that puts Americans back to work,” said Sen. Kerry. “A first-rate rail system would protect our environment, save families time and money, reduce our dependency on foreign oil, and help get our economy moving again. The High-Speed Rail for America Act will help fix our crumbling infrastructure system, expand our economy, and match high-tech rail systems across the globe.”

“We must continue to focus our energies on building and maintaining a strong national passenger rail system in order to ease congestion of air and highway corridors connecting high-growth markets, as well as to meet energy and environmental goals,” said Sen. Specter. “The High-Speed Rail for America Act is an investment in our nation’s infrastructure and has the potential to provide tremendous economic opportunities throughout Pennsylvania and the nation.”
Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Joe Lieberman (I-CT.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), cosponsored the legislation.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell both voiced their support for the high-speed rail initiative.

“Creating a national high-speed rail network is an ambitious goal, but one that gets more urgent by the day,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Investing in modern infrastructure is vital to the nation’s long-term economic and environmental health - and in the short-term, it would help put more Americans back to work. Many countries in Europe and Asia are investing in high-speed rail, and if our economy is going to remain competitive, we have to start catching up. Greater investment in our railways is a top goal of Building America's Future, the infrastructure coalition that Governors Rendell and Schwarzenegger and I created. I applaud Senator Kerry for tackling the issue head-on, and I strongly support his efforts to create the high-speed rail network our country needs.”

“This long-overdue national investment in high-speed rail would help to stimulate economic recovery while creating good jobs that cannot be outsourced,” said Gov. Rendell, one of the founding co-chairs of the Building America’s Future coalition. “Expanding our nation’s critical rail infrastructure will make our transportation network more efficient, reduce traffic pressure on our already busy interstate highways, and improve the environment.”

The High-Speed Rail for America Act of 2008 builds upon the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 which reauthorizes Amtrak and authorizes $1.5 billion over a five-year period to finance the construction and equipment for eleven high-speed rail corridors. It provides billions of dollars in both tax-exempt and tax credit bond and provides assistance for rail projects of various speeds. The bill creates the Office of High-Speed passenger rail to oversee the development of high-speed rail and provides a consistent source of funding.

Specifically, the High-Speed Rail for America Act of 2008 provides $8 billion over a six-year period for tax-exempt bonds which finance high-speed rail projects which reach a speed of at least 110 miles per hour It creates a new category of tax-credit bonds – qualified rail bonds.

There are two types of qualified rail bonds: super high-speed intercity rail facility bond and rail infrastructure bond. Super high-speed rail intercity facility bonds will encourage the development of true high-speed rail. The legislation provides $10 billion for these bonds over a ten-year period. This would help finance the California proposed corridor and make needed improvements to the Northeast corridor. The legislation provides $5.4 billion over a six-year period for rail infrastructure bonds.

The Federal Rail Administration has already designated ten rail corridors that these bonds could help fund, including connecting the cities of the Midwest through Chicago, connecting the cities of the Northwest, connecting the major cities within Texas and Florida, and connecting all the cities up and down the East Coast.
November 20, 2008 in High Speed Rail Permalink

Is John Mica Snubbing Amtrak AGAIN?

This is from the National Association of Railroad Passengers website,.......seems like no one wants to point out the obvious:

Amtrak COO and Acting President William Crosbie asserted, “We know how to
do high speed rail.” He said Amtrak is the country’s first HSR
operator, with crews and teams with first-hand experience and
institutional knowledge of the hurdles and the bottlenecks to HSR.

Yet

Section 502 (of H.R. 2095, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement
Act (Amtrak reauthorization and rail safety bill) is the provision that
mandates the U.S. DOT to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) from
private companies or consortia to establish high-speed rail (HSR)
service on any of the 11 federally-designated HSR corridors within 60 days
of bill enactment.

http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/main/hotline_580/

Why the heck don't we have Amtrak submit a proposal?

Oh yeah, that's right, our gederal government loves to pay "beaucoup" extra for private company profits. That's been their plan for Universal Healthcare too.

Meanwhile, Amtrak finally secured steady funding, something that was sorely missing, and part of the plan to replace Amtrak with a host of unregulated private companies.
"Starving the beast" if you will, as a concerted Repulican effort to make Amtrak irrelevant vs Private rail road companies.

Well, here is what a Democratic controlled Congress finally was able to accomplish:

Public rail gains traction

For years, Amtrak has struggled along without dedicated funding. And for
years, Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey has campaigned for permanent funding,
without which Amtrak has been unable to make reliable plans for upgrading
infrastructure, providing new rail cars and building new rail lines.
This legislation lays a framework for funding over the next
five years. The last time Amtrak got multi-year funding was in 1997.

and:

With this funding, Congress is acknowledging the cost effectiveness, energy
efficiency and convenience of rail travel. Steadily increasing ridership numbers
in recent years support those advantages. Amtrak recently reported a record of
28.7 million riders for fiscal year 2008. A little-noticed provision of the
legislation provides grants to states for connecting local rail lines to Amtrak
-- a valuable contribution to the national goal of increasing the use of public
transportation. All this is also a step toward greater transportation balance in
a country where we spend $40 billion on roads, $14 billion on airports and, up
to now, $1 billion on rail. In the past, every request for funds had to begin
with a debate over whether funding Amtrak was a good idea. Now, with the
creation of a benchmark, that question has been answered.