"A house divided against itself cannot stand." - Abraham Lincoln
The Martin BOCC is holding an emergency public meeting on Saturday, Nov. 24 at 9:00 a.m. in the Commission Chambers to discuss their vote on agreeing to settle the lawsuit against Brightline. Please attend and let your opinion be heard. The Treasure Coast must stand united.
FNAA asks how will Brightline/Virgin pay for their promises such as raising the bridge, safety upgrades, pedestrian walkways, etc.
Why the rush right now?
Why bully the Counties into an egregious, one-sided settlement agreement, with prejudice, which included the following?
a. During the period of construction and for a period of five (5) years after Brightline passenger revenue operations between West Palm Beach and Orlando begin, the Counties and CARE will not oppose or challenge, or encourage others to oppose or challenge, any pending or future federal, state, or local approval, permit or authorization relating to the Brightline
Project or the financing of the Brightline project or seek any further state, federal, or local environmental review with respect to the improvements which Brightline is committing to make in the agreement.
III. Future Permitting and Official Acts
a. The Counties agree that they will not require additional permits or approvals for work within the FECR right-of-way, except for Martin County’s flood plain approval requirement.
b. During the period of construction and the first three (3) years of Brightline passenger revenue operation between West Palm Beach and Orlando, the counties and CARE agree that they will not, and will not encourage others to, pass any resolutions or adopt other official acts that would “publicly support federal or state legislation or new county laws or regulations that would directly and adversely impact the Brightline Project.”
Related Articles
IRC turns down settlement with Brightline
UPDATE: Indian River County Commissioners voted four to one Tuesday evening to not only turn down a settlement agreement with Brightline, but also to spend another $1 million to continue the fight.
It was an agreement that Martin County Commissioners had approved earlier Tuesday.
Part of the deal would have required Brightline to build a station on the Treasure Coast within 5 years of the train's expansion to Orlando and undertake a number of safety improvements along the line.
Martin and India River counties, along with Citizens Against Rail Expansion, had sued over various elements of the train expansion.
Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for next week in Washington.
It's unclear if they will go on as planned.
Passenger train service on the Treasure Coast is now one big step closer to reality.
Tuesday, the Martin County Commission approved a settlement agreement with Brightline.
The Steering Committee for CARE said it's reviewing the actions taken by Martin and Indian River Counties and will be discussing those actions with its members.
Brightline, which is rebranding as Virgin Trains USA, will be required to build at least one train station on the Treasure Coast within five years of the first paying passengers taking the expanded train service to Orlando. That is expected to happen by 2021.
"If you've been following this, you know this is a significant change in position from Brightline. When the train was proposed, we were merely going to be a passthrough," County Attorney Sarah Woods told commissioners Tuesday.
As to where that stop would go, both Stuart and Fort Pierce have expressed interest.
The agreement also sp
ells out a number of other Brightline requirements, including elevating a section of the St. Lucie Bridge to allow more marine traffic when its down, vehicle presence detection systems at 17 crossings in Martin County, and sidewalks wherever the county sees fit.
In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, Virgin Trains USA showed a potential stop at Disney World, but none on the Treasure Coast.
We're awaiting a response as to the potential discrepancy.
Martin County, Indian River County, and CARE had sued over how the expansion of the train was going to be funded and other safety and environment concerns.
Oral arguments were scheduled for next week in Washington.
This settlement would cancel that court proceeding.
https://www.wflx.com/2018/11/21/martin-co-approves-settlement-with-brightline/
Don't be fooled by Branson adding his Virgin name to the train!
Richard Branson defends government bailout of Virgin's East Coast rail
Sir Richard Branson has defended the government bailout of Virgin Trains East Coast, saying he and partner firm Stagecoach have lost more than £100m running the route.
In the Virgin Group owner’s first public comments on the controversy, he said that the “promise of a huge upgrade” of the line that is set to be delayed meant “a discussion with government had to take place”.
The train company, a joint venture with Virgin branding but 90% owned by transport firm Stagecoach, won the contract to run the East Coast line after it was privatised in 2015. It was due to pay £3.3bn to the government, the bulk of payments coming in the final years of its eight-year term. But the transport secretary Chris Grayling announced the contract would instead end early for a new “partnership model” – potentially still operated by Stagecoach – starting in 2020.
Guardian Today: the headlines, the analysis, the debate - sent direct to you
Lord Adonis cited the move, alongside the government’s Brexit strategy, as the reason for his resignation last month from his government post as chair of the National Infrastructure Commission. On Friday Adonis welcomed what he called Branson’s admission that a bailout had taken place, with Grayling continuing to avoid debate on the subject.
Branson said that the £3.3bn bid was “based on a number of key assumptions” which have not come to fruition. Writing on his blog, he said the upgrade of East Coast infrastructure by Network Rail would have improved the reliability of the track and allowed Virgin to carry many more passengers. He said: “The considerable delays to this upgrade, to new trains, as well as poor track reliability will cost us significant lost revenue (amounting to hundreds of millions of pounds) and torpedoed the assumptions of our original bid.
Please click this link for the complete article.