More CSX freight trains seen as route to add passenger rail too

Planners who had been spotlighting transit passenger solutions to Miami-Dade’s road congestion are suddenly shifting their focus to freight, but with the same objective.

For years commissioners looked to dormant freight rail lines to carry passenger transit but had no success in dealing with owner CSX rail system.

But recent discussions have uncovered a desire by CSX to reactivate the lines for freight that could be coupled with local desires for passenger rail in what would be a win-win deal.

“Some years ago, the county asked how to activate the line for commuter and left freight out of the discussion,” Jose M. Gonzalez, Florida East Coast Industries executive vice president, told the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization last week. “That’s not the way it’s being approached now, that’s not how the conversations have happened with those on the board who have talked with CSX.”

“If we want to make this work it works on the back of freight,” Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado told the planning board.

“Passenger for us is the number-one priority, but for them it is the red-headed stepchild. Passenger is a piece of this and does not make enough money.”

Board members were told CSX is amendable to passenger trains sharing its two now-dormant rail lines in the county as long as the rail system can operate freight trains on the same tracks and the county changes zoning along the lines to make service profitable.

Those zoning needs were not spelled out, nor were costs of using the lines for passengers. Formal negotiations have not begun, though individual members of the planning board have been talking with CSX in recent weeks about a deal to add passenger rail.

It was clear that freight trains running along the lines are the only route anyone now sees to adding passenger service as well.

“This says to the world that Miami-Dade is very serious about freight and commuter rail,” said Commissioner Kionne McGhee of South Dade.

“The conversations I’ve been having with CSX, with its leadership, is that they are very much interested in making this happen very soon.

They’re no longer wanting us to wait and drag our feet on this. They want us to execute this as soon as possible.”

Talks with CSX about the county using or buying for passenger use its 26-mile rail corridor from Oleander Junction south to Homestead, which also has a branch line going into the west of the county, have been held for years, Mr. Gonzalez recounted at a county commission meeting two weeks ago. The county had been looking at the line to the west for its East-West leg of the six-corridor Smart Plan to add rapid transit. Now, with a new mindset at CSX to develop freight service and utilize its dormant land, those talks have been rekindled on the back of new freight service.

“Way back when, CSX made it practically impossible to move on any of the corridors that involved CSX,” county Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez told the planning meeting. With a new mindset, he said, “The stars have kind of come together to at least have a frank discussion on this, so let’s take advantage of it.”

The board asked for an assessment by Executive Director Aileen Bouclé on May 25 after she meets with county transit head Eulois Cleckley.

As for costs, which the county would have to bear after seeking vital federal funding, county commission Chairman Oliver Gilbert III told the planning board, “We’ll figure it out.”

Source: www.miamitodaynews.com