While the Obama administration has been busy deflating expectations for rail passenger service above 110 miles per hour, Florida is improving the design of its corridor between Tampa and Orlando so trains can run above 180 mph.*
This nugget of good news came within the confines of testimony given Monday by Florida Transportation Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos at a hearing in Miami before a congressional panel reviewing the $8 billion in rail grants awarded in January.
Florida’s decision to speed up its trains amounts to a subtle rebuke of the Obama administration’s rail strategy. Joseph Szabo, chief of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), has argued before the same congressional panel that trains running at 150-200 mph, as is common in Europe and Asia, aren’t necessary on most intercity corridors.
Outside of Florida and California, the Obama administration has set 110 mph as the top speed for passenger trains that would use existing upgraded track owned by freight railroads. Rep. John Mica (R-FL), the ranking minority member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has denounced the administration’s plans as fake high-speed rail.
While Florida originally projected maximum speeds of 168 mph for the Tampa-Orlando route, “our engineering team is designing this system to international standards and is evaluating design options to increase speed and decrease travel time,” Kopelousos said.
The redesign is expected to whisk passengers from downtown Tampa to Orlando International Airport (85 miles) in “under 45 minutes,” Kopelousos said, compared to 56-59 minutes under the previous design.
This places the Florida system in line with the speed performance of most European trains, such as France’s famous TGV network. The accelerated trip represents a significant time savings over highway travel, which typically takes 80-90 minutes between Tampa and Orlando.
Kopelousos pledged to seek more federal funds to complete the Tampa-Orlando line. Florida sought $2.65 billion, but the FRA granted only $1.25 billion from the pot of high-speed rail funds awarded in January.
The shortfall has brought jitters to state transportation planners. But given Florida’s position as a battleground state in national elections, it seems unlikely that the Obama administration would forsake the project. A more plausible scenario is that additional federal money will come in spurts as the state completes phases of the corridor.
Florida also wants to build a high-speed line between Orlando and Miami. The FRA rejected Florida’s application for $30 million to start planning this leg of the railway, but Kopelousos said the state is funding its own planning work and will reapply for federal aid.
The Florida legislature has established the Florida Rail Enterprise, modeled on the Florida Turnpike Authority, to oversee the building of the railway, which is initially projected to carry two million passengers a year and earn a small profit that will grow once the Orlando-Miami segment is completed.
The Tampa-Orlando line will have a station stop at Disney World. About half of the passengers are expected to be tourists headed to Disney or to other tourism and recreational destinations in the region.
Building the railway along the median strip of I-4, rather than using private land or mixing the route with existing freight train lines, has reduced overall costs. When the state widened I-4 some years ago, it spent an extra $600 million reconfiguring the roadway and building overpasses with enough clearance for trains.
If all goes on schedule, the first trains will be running in 2015, making Tampa and Orlando the first metropolitan areas in the country connected by a railway dedicated to high-speed passenger service.
Graphic: Florida Department of Transportation
*Correction: This item originally stated that Florida is improving the Tampa-Orlando corridor design so trains can run up to 200 mph.
