Supporters of high speed rail turned out on Wednesday night Downtown Orlando to rally for the Orlando to Tampa bullet train and pressure Gov. Rick Scott to reverse his rejection of the project $2.6 billion project.
About 80 supporters, some as young as 6 years, waved signs that said, “Give Us Our Jobs”, “Go High Speed Rail”, and “Trains Does Not Get Stuck in Traffic”, rallied for two-hours to call attention to Scott’s misguided decision not to move ahead with the rail line anticipated to create at least 30,000 jobs during the Orlando to Tampa phase of construction.
Florida already has $2.4 billion or 90 percent of the rail funding in hand from the federal government, but last week Scott said the project was too risky. Since then, local elected officials have been scrambling to work out an alternative plan that would remove whatever risk there might be and have private companies bear any cost over-runs or operational cost if ridership projection do not pan out. Such a plan would mean that Florida taxpayers would not bear any liability if the project fails.
Lawmakers have until Friday, February 25, to devise an alternate plan which could still need the backing of the state government, if the bullet train is to get back on track.
