Florida's Privately Funded Passenger Rail Plan Chugs Forward Amid Opposition

All Aboard Florida, the emerging train service between Miami and Orlando, passed two major hurdles last week—bringing private U.S. passenger rail, at this point dead for decades, that much closer to a triumphant resurrection.

First the Federal Railroad Administration completed its final environmental impact statement report on the project (a requirement for the federally backed loan AAF is seeking via the underused Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program). Then the railroad won approval from a state finance commission to sell $1.75 billion in tax-exempt bonds (despite intense opposition from local counties concerned about noise and other hazards). Together the milestones bring AAF that much closer to launching service in 2017 as currently planned.