Nope, a grant is not a loan and is not repaid.
To summarize the situation, Brightline was ready to pay for the link from Orlando Airport and Disney, essentially on a nonstop routing that did not go by any logical places to stop. Lots of people in both the public and private sectors wanted them to use a routing that would stop at the Convention center (close to Universal Studios). This routing will cost significantly more. Agreement has been reached to have a public agency construct this segment with Sunrail (commuter operator) to provide local service and Brightline to operate on trackage rights. Federal government has just announced a grant to pay part of the cost of of designing the alignment and stations. This will allow a more accurate cost estimate.
Back in 2009 the plans for HSR did have 2 tracks for the full length along I-4. However, since then there have been several iterations of the long term Tampa Bay area interstate plans. Also, back in 2009 the HSR project would have had a much bigger source of funding to build their planned infrastructure. So if the I-4 ROW needed to be widened and take private property to do that (which was the case with their design), it would have happened. Brightline, however, has tried to avoid having to buy private land and has a much smaller budget.
Here is more on the specifics of the grant:
Well....At present I give it at best a 50-50 chance at best of landing all that federal funding.
There is no mention of where the money is going to come for Surail's ongoing operating subsidy.
Someone may be smoking something potent.
Don't you find it odd that a piece of infrastructure will be built substantially using federal grants requiring matching money from Brightline with a few hundred million, if that thrown in by a few others, and the Brightline will have the pleasure of leasing that for operating their trains? But hey, this *is* Florida afterall...
I will add that perhaps Brightline has recognized that whatever fees it pays to use the new route will be more than made up for with increased revenue from the Universal/I-Drive station? I would imagine that most potential Brightline riders who are also visiting Orlando for the theme parks won't be staying inside Disney World.
That trackage will be owned by CFRC or Brightline. CSX will just run their occasional coal train on one of the tracks. There will be multiple track in that ROW. Even the original Sunrail to Airport project had that track segment being bought out by FDOT and dispatched from DeBary Control Center. So CSX will not be a player. Besides they want to get rid of track ownership around Orlando and Miami as much as they can anyway.
No sidings. Only combination of 1MT and 2MT with high speed equilateral turnouts connecting 1MT sections to 2MT sections.
Since the Sunshine Corridor route will be all double track, I will assume that new double track exclusively for SunRail and Brightline trains will be built to the north of the OUC railroad track (my understanding is that CSX has trackage rights and maintains the tracks under contract with OUC, but doesn't own the tracks or land). Brightline already has a lease signed with OUC that allows them to build on and use OUC ROW and tracks. A single crossover to the existing OUC track near the wye will allow for operations from the existing SunRail route. Although a second connecting crossover (possibly a double crossover) along the CFRC (former CSX A-Line) track to the north of the wye will improve operations overall.
A grant doesn’t get repaid. It has conditions that must be fulfilled, but if the conditions are satisfied, the money never has to be repaid.
That is a definite maybe for now. The proposed tax is for general transport and not dedicated to Sunrail. So who knows how much Sunrail will get from it and how much will remain available after the shortfalls in the current system is addressed. But it is a good start.
That's a 13.3% hike in sales tax from 6.5% to 7.5%. May just sound like a penny more for every dollar, but to support a fiscally failed commuter line by penalizing EVERYONE in the county is just wrong. Increase the fares! Improve the service! This is what you get when government tries to run a business (transportation welfare). They have zero incentive to make money. Not enough cash? Just tax the 99.9% who don't even know it exists.
As someone mentioned previously, the tax is going for general transportation, not just for a "failed commuter line." Anyway, everybody in that county deserves to be penalized because they have allowed themselves to be dependent on cars for their transportation needs. I'm not sure a sales tax is the best way to do that, though. Probably better to have both an increased motor fuel tax on fuels derived from petroleum, coal, and natural gas, and a mileage charge for electric vehicles. Plus, tolls on all major arterial roads, which isn't that hard to do anymore using open road tolling technology. And all the money raised should go to public transportation. Of course, such policies would never fly politically, but that's about what it would take to get people out of their cars, and even then....
I'm not that pessimistic. As population increases and more and more areas are being built on, huge swatches of Florida are being urbanized by stealth. And in an urban environment the argument for rail and other forms of mass transit becomes more and more unavoidable by the day. This is why we are seeing Brightline among others, but also the various commuter rail schemes that have appeared over the last decades plus those that are still to come or be extended.
