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October 2015

ALL ABOARD FLORIDA'S "GRAND REVEAL" LIKELY WILL BE BLAND REVEAL

RICH CAMPBELL - TCPALM

“Grand reveal” is the phrase All Aboard Florida President Michael Reininger used recently to tease a news conference the rail company has scheduled for Nov. 9 in Miami.

Other clues from Reininger include “a new launch in the coming weeks” and “the future is bright.”

Bright for whom?

Not the Treasure Coast.

FORTRESS'S FLORIDA PASSENGER RAIL LINE FACES SKEPTICAL INVESTORS

DARRELL PRESTON - BLOOMBERG

Fortress Investment Group sold Florida officials on its plan to build the first new privately run U.S. passenger railroad in more than a century, saying it will get 3 million cars off the road, create 10,000 jobs and provide a $6 billion jolt to the economy.

The New York private-equity and hedge-fund company now has to persuade another crucial audience: Bond investors who question whether Sunshine State travelers will leave their cars behind to ride on the 235-mile (378 kilometer) route from Orlando to Miami.

WHY ARE OIL TRAINS CRASHING? TRACK PROBLEMS COULD BE TO BLAME

RALPH VARTABEDIAN - LA TIMES

The only sign of trouble aboard a Norfolk Southern train, hauling roughly 9,000 tons of Canadian crude in western Pennsylvania last year, was a moderate sway in the locomotive as it entered a bend on the Kiskiminetas River.

The first 66 cars had passed safely around the curve when the emergency brakes suddenly engaged, slamming the train to a stop. The conductor trudged back nearly a mile through newly fallen snow to see what happened.

BEFORE ALL ABOARD FLORIDA, OFFICIALS WANT MILES-LONG QUIET ZONE

PALM BEACH POST

When All Aboard Florida starts running its express passenger service along the Florida East Coast Railway tracks, Palm Beach County officials want to make sure the company won’t be required to sound train horns at rail intersections from Boca Raton to West Palm Beach.

ALL ABOARD FLORIDA, SAND PROJECT JUST START OF WHAT TREASURE COAST CAN DO FOR OTHERS

RICH CAMPBELL - TCPALM

I’d like to propose a new marketing slogan for our region:

“The Treasure Coast: We Exist For the Benefit of Others.”

There’s a common thread connecting All Aboard Florida’s plan to run 32 daily passenger trains between Miami and Orlando, and the Army Corps of Engineers’ proposal to raid Treasure Coast sand to renourish Miami-Dade beaches.

The parallel is our region shouldering the burden for the benefit of other parts of the state.