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Florida Gov. Rick Scott's third rejection of $2.4 billion in federal grants for a Tampa-to-Orlando high-speed rail line is "disappointing," but "too much is being made" of whether or not it's a blow to the national HSR program, says a member of the American High-Speed Rail Alliance board.

Scott's decision was a disappointment because the Florida project was so far along, says Chuck Baker, who also serves as president of the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association.

"Florida was close to receiving bids from the concessionaire teams — these were eight well-developed teams stocked with a global who’s who of the HSR market," he says.

The Florida project would have allowed for construction of a grade-separated dedicated track with "world-class high-speed rail" for a "reasonable sum of money," and the state already owned the land for an infrastructure along the Interstate 4 median, he adds.

On the other hand, people who say Florida's situation will hurt the national effort to build a HSR network are making too much of Scott’s decision, says Baker. He believes Scott's choice to reject HSR was a partisan political move rather than a sensible economic one.

Because there was huge demand for the original $8 billion in high-speed rail grants under the federal stimulus act, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) will have no problem redistributing the $2.4 billion in grants that Florida turned away, he says.

"[The money] will go to places that can show they can use it quickly and where everyone is fully on board" with high-speed rail, Baker says.

Baker identified five options he believes would meet that criteria: California; the Northwest, Northeast, or Southeast corridors; and the Midwest, where plans for proposed HSR links from Chicago to St. Louis and Chicago to Detroit are moving along.

Because they've been working with state officials on HSR grant proposals for the past two years, USDOT officials already have a solid idea of who would use the grants most productively. As a result, Baker says he believes the department will act soon — possibly before the end of the month — to redistribute the Florida funds.

— Julie Sneider