Since its launch, the Florida Department of Transportation has had the responsibility for the development, design, engineering, construction, installation, procurement, operation, and maintenance of the SunRail system, but that’s about to change.
SunRail is a 61-mile commuter rail system that spans four counties and 17 stations, including DeLand Station, which is expected to open in early 2024, with 40 trains operating Monday to Friday each week.
Through a series of agreements, the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission (CFCRC) presently acts in an advisory capacity to FDOT and is comprised of five funding partners (Orange County, Osceola County, Seminole County, Volusia County, and the City of Orlando). The responsibility of the operations and maintenance and other applicable functions will transition from that of the FDOT to the CFCRC in June of 2024.
A recent presentation was made to Orange County at the July 26 Board of County Commissioners meeting which you can read in full HERE with three options for how to proceed:
- CFCRC recruits its own in-house staff to provide all management and administration of the rail system.
- CFCRC recruits in-house staff to manage and administer some functions while contracting out all operating services.
- CFCRC recruits no staff and contracts all functions to another agency, likely to LYNX.
A formal transition plan based on one of those three options is expected to be adopted in November 2022, but the third option was clearly favored in the presentation as it was the least expensive and shed all operating risks from the commission to LYNX and other contractors.
LYNX has proven to be full of issues and problems just for their business so how could they service this massive issue