ORLANDO – SunRail is reviving efforts for a 12-mile extension to DeLand, Fla., hoping to learn this summer whether it will obtain the needed federal funding, despite some local qualms about the project.
The extension, which will require double-tracking from the current northern terminus of DeBary to DeLand, would complete construction along the 61-mile corridor purchased in 2005. It is estimated to cost $77 million, the West Volusia Beacon reports.
DeLand is in Volusia County, one of five local partners — with three other counties and the city of Orlando – in the SunRail project. The proposed extension would require Volusia County to pay about one-quarter of the costs, or $19.3 million, and the county council approved that expense at a meeting earlier this week – although not without reservations. The county is concerned about a planned 2021 handover of SunRail operating and maintenance expenses from the Florida Department of Transportation to the five local partners.
Responding to those concerns, the chairman of the agency that oversees SunRail offered Volusia County a chance to kill the DeLand station at a meeting Thursday.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, in a meeting of the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission, asked Volusia County chaiman Ed Kelley if the county wanted the station, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports. Kelley said the county had committed to honor its contract. The county has previously indicated a desire to renegotiate
The DeLand station will be 3 miles west of downtown, requiring additional transit to reach there from the SunRail Station.
SunRail CEO Nicola Liquori said she hopes to know by the end of August if the state DOT will receive the approximately $34 million in federal funding needed for the project.
