Rush Hour Read: New Study Says Florida High-Speed Rail Line Would Have Been Very Profitable
Florida’s high-speed rail line from Tampa to Orlando, originally set to be the model for the nation, has come and gone. But interest in the project continues to have an afterlife. A new posthumous report on the line, released by the Florida Department of Transportation, says the Tampa-Orlando fast train would have been even more profitable and carried even more passengers than experts initially believed:
Three weeks after Gov. Rick Scott put the brakes on high-speed rail, the Florida Department of Transportation on Wednesday released a study showing the line connecting Tampa to Orlando would have had a $10.2 million operating surplus in 2015, its first year of operation.
The study showed the line would have had a $28.6 million surplus in its 10th year.
The numbers are more optimistic than a 2009 study, which concluded the line would have not seen an operating surplus until 2021.
The $1.3 million study, conducted by the forecasting firms Wilbur Smith Associates and Steer Davies Gleave, shows the line would have had 3.3 million riders in its first year. The previous analysis predicted the line would have had 2.4 million riders in 2015.
Governor Scott still feels “comfortable” with the cancellation, according to the Miami Herald. Of course the governor acted on politics, not research, which is why Thad Altman, the state senator who fought to keep the rail project alive, does not believe the new results would have changed Scott’s decision:
“His conclusion was political, not based on economics, good business or even protecting the taxpayers,” Altman said. “As time passes and more information comes out, you can see the injustice that was done to the state of Florida.”
infrastructurist.com |
