Another government-sponsored “startup” commuter service that uses proof-of-payment (or “POP”). Most of the time, there aren’t any ticket inspectors on board, so if you time things right, you can ride for free.
And of course that’s aside from all of the other Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulations (engineers have to be certified for not only a particular stretch of railroad, but also for passenger operations versus freight), which extends from “crashworthiness” of the passenger cars to the emissions of the diesel locomotives (which are actually stipulated by the EPA—Tier IV emissions have to be at no more than 0.14 grams per horsepower-hour for hydrocarbons, for example); and after that, there are “track classes” that stipulate how fast the train can go (if you want to run a passenger train at 80 mph top speed, tracks have to be “Class 4”).
So much for an industry that was pioneered by the private sector and owned/operated (including infrastructure!) completely by the private sector for 130 years until the federal and state governments ate them away and continue to do so today.
The commuter rail that they’re trying (and probably will) expand in Southeast Florida will be on privately owned railroad right-of-way. The gov’t will lease the use of the lines from the RR owner. I believe that is how SunRail is operating as well. So, the gov’t comes in, refurbs the rails to accommodate the passenger loads, and then leases the rails from the owner. Pretty sweet deal for the owner. Particularly in Southeast florida, I know Jupiter has a very old railroad bridge that lowers for the train every time it goes through and halts any larger boat traffic. I guess that will get rebuilt for the railroad.