Indian River and Martin County officials will return to federal court on Nov. 27 to make what will likely be their final legal stand in the effort to derail All Aboard Florida’s plans to run high-speed passenger trains through the Treasure and Space Coasts.
That’s when the county officials, who are also part of a lawsuit filed in February, will make their case that the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration improperly subsidized All Aboard Florida’s Brightline trains with tax exempt bonds, while violating the National Environmental Policy Act.
The two counties have already spent more than $7 million on the lawsuits and Martin County officials recently publicly stated they cannot afford to keep fighting.
Indian River County Administrator Jason Brown said that if the lawsuit fails, Indian River too will have few options left.
He has not yet given up the fight, however, and said the county has declined offers by Brightline to negotiate the issue.
“This issue remains in litigation,” Brown said during a recent phone interview.
“We’re not involved in any negotiations; it’s in litigation.”
Other communities have signaled they are ready to work with All Aboard Florida by submitting station proposals to the company.
The rail company has prevailed in eight other lawsuits filed by Treasure Coast communities since 2014, when the company announced its expansion plans.
All Aboard Florida officials said last week the company is confident it will prevail in court this time, too, and looks forward to working with the various municipalities.
“All necessary permits have been approved,” said Ali Soule, director of public affairs and media relations.
“We’ve already started work on the corridor, including laying fiber cable and landscaping.”
All Aboard Florida – which announced last week it will change the name of its trains from Brightline to Virgin Trains USA, after entering into a partnership with businessman Richard Branson’s Virgin Group – began service between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale in January and extended service to Miami in May.
The high-speed rail project ultimately is set to run from Miami through Brevard up to Cocoa before swinging west to Orlando.
The proposed expansion would significantly increase the number of trains passing through at-grade road crossings, many in need of safety upgrades.
In Brevard, trains would go over 21 crossings in Melbourne, nine in the unincorporated county, six in Cocoa, five in Rockledge, four in Grant-Valkaria and three in Palm Bay, records show.
A new $26 million overpass at the Pineda Causeway will take motorists over the FEC tracks instead of making them cross the railroad.
In 2016, the Brevard Transportation Planning Organization asked for a new station and suggested two possible sites.
One is a former FEC Railway passenger station straddling the Cocoa-Rockledge city limits; the other site is a parcel on Michigan Avenue in Cocoa.
