Senator Dockery on Defense

We would have thought that Senator Paula Dockery would have been living the high life...the state trial lawyers are her best friends, she's running unopposed for re-election, and she can tell the citizens of Lakeland that she single-handedly saved them from a lifetime of increasing frequency of train whistles.

But judging from the number of op-ed articles Sen. Dockery has written lately, explaining her crusade against the Central Florida commuter rail project, it seems that perhaps some of her constituents (perhaps the ones from Osceola County?) think she has some fences to mend.

To believe the articles, the negotiations between Florida DOT and CSX Transportation were so secret, it's a wonder that our elected officials even knew that they might have to approve something related to commuter rail. Which is funny, since it seems that many of us have been following, and debating, the commuter rail project for years now. Apparently, elected officials are sequestered from the news sources provided to the commoners, and only are alerted to issues when staff jumps out and yells "boo! time to vote!"

We do give Senator Dockery a little bit of credit, in that she has at least attempted to provide an alternative solution when she opposes the plan she has been presented. We contrast that to the behavior of many elected officials, who wait for a single option to be presented by staff, and then say "no, I don't like that idea. Someone needs to come up with a different plan."

Senator Dockery's alternative proposal revolves around her belief that Amtrak already controls enough rail schedule, and has enough existing liability insurance, that the state can simply sign a contract with Amtrak to provide commuter rail service and make an end-run around CSX Transportation.

We think this concept will fall short, because it ignores the axiom that "he who owns the tracks controls the schedule." As long as CSX owns the tracks, freight trains will always have priority over passenger trains, and any commuter rail line that has to pull off to a siding to let a freight train go by will be doomed to failure. Ask the fine folks in South Florida. TriRail had many issues early on when dispatching was handled by the rail company, rather than by the state.

Further, Amtrak does not seem to share a common set of expectations with Senator Dockery's plan. When an Amtrak representative was interviewed during the legislative session regarding this proposal, he seemed to indicate that Amtrak's level of interest was in providing the staff to operate the state's trains.

If such a plan was viable, we would imagine that Amtrak would be producing good revenue right now, building and operating commuter rail systems all over the country.

In any case, Senator Dockery has made a proposal. We would expect that an elected official who rallied the troops in such an overt manner to put the brakes on the commuter rail plan will have no issue with being as aggressive in determining whether her Amtrak proposal is viable. If it turns out to be viable, we would expect that the citizens of Central Florida will owe her a great debt of gratitude. On the other hand, she owes it to her constituents to determine the plan's viability long before the next legislative session, so that if it turns out to not be a viable solution, it does not muddy the waters when the Legislature re-convenes to discuss commuter rail in 2009.