Reacting to Gov. Rick Scott’s decision not to pursue the Tampa to Orlando bullet train, the US High Speed Rail Association said the governor had put his political ambition ahead of the interest of the state of Florida.
“The High Speed Rail Project in Florida had already received 90% of the funds necessary to complete the segment from Tampa to Orlando and the remaining 10% could have been funded by private investment in the state of the art transportation system. Governor Scott’s decision must be carefully evaluated and all options must be pursued to fulfill the will of the voters in Florida who have repeatedly expressed strong interest in bringing high speed rail and enhanced commuter rail to the state,” said Thomas Hart, Vice President of Government Affairs & General Counsel. Governor Scott’s decision is not appropriate; the project called for a true high speed rail system and would have been very profitable.”
USHSR also called the actions of Scott, premature and noted the governor had made his decision even before the results of a ridership study, which he had commissioned were known.
“Governor Scott’s actions were premature, stated Andy Kunz, USHSR President and CEO. “He made his decision without the benefit of the ridership study he commissioned, which was soon to be released. The RFQ submissions were never issued which would have given the bidding teams the opportunity to cover all operations and maintenance costs. He also failed to provide the private sector with the opportunity to cover any construction funding gaps.”
Meanwhile, national and state organizations are mobilizing to appeal this decision and explore alternative ways to bring high speed rail to Florida, utilizing the funding, engineering and momentum already generated around the project.
Florida has already received $2.4 billion toward the high speed rail project which was anticipated to create 71,000 job-years of construction and related jobs over the four-year construction period.
