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Originally Posted by ardecila
Where is the money coming from? Does OIA use money from Florida taxpayers, or do they get money from ticket fees? Given the huge tourism numbers at OIA, I would guess the latter. Still, FECI wants to take money from the public - a subset of it - to pay for the expenses of their private business. That's the definition of a subsidy.
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Is it a subsidy if FECI desires to be the rail component of OIA's proposed intermodal center and South Terminal? Why should FECI fund the airport's infrastructure as well? From my understanding, it appears FECI is simply trying to tap into what had already been proposed by the airport. See the OIA graphics below. I scanned these a couple of years ago when they were talking about building this for the HSR project and Sunrail.
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I'm also not clear on exactly what the plans call for. The Florida HSR proposal called for the rail line to go directly into the airport with a station at the terminals. Is FECI proposing the same thing? Or do they plan to terminate the service at 528/Semoran, with a people-mover connection into the airport? (For the record, I favor this plan, as it makes a downtown Orlando connection much easier in the future.)
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OIA has long talked about building a south terminal about a mile south of the existing one that would serve as the airport's intermodal center.
FECI appears to be asking OIA to move forward with some of their intermodal plans since the Sunrail commuter rail project and FECI are moving forward as scheduled. Btw, there's a rail line for coal unit trains the runs south of the airport and crosses SR 528, just west of the Greeneway/417, before terminating at an OUC power plant. I expect, FECI will branch off SR 528 and onto this line to access the southside of the airport. I know we focus on passenger rail, but this area sets up well for FEC to provide freight service, not only to that coal plant (CSX doesn't own this line) but to proposed industrial areas surrounding it.
Proposed South Terminal
Section of South Terminal and parking garage
Cross section of initial phase.
Looking at this initial phase cross section, FECI replaces HSR, Sunrail remains the same and the airport's people mover remains the same. The only mode missing is LRT, which there never was a serious proposal for.