Rail campaigners in America have protested against attempts by a “think tank” to undermine the case for high-speed rail in Florida.
They say a 24-page report which attacked the plan for a high-speed rail route from Orlando to Tampo is riddled with half truths.
The National Association of Railroad Passengers has issued a press release challenging the Reason Foundation’s controversial report.
The Reason Foundation has a long history of campaigning for privatisation and against state investment.
The foundation’s president is David Nott, a former oil company executive, and has listed its funders as including the Ford Motor Co, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, oil giants Exxon, Chevron and Shell, the American Petroleum Institute, Union Carbide, American Airlines and Continental Airlines.
In 2009, Florida Governor Charlie Crist applied for funding to build the Tampa-Orlando line and in January 2010, President Obama announced that Florida would be awarded money from the national recovery fund.
Florida's new governor, Rick Scott, is reported to be sceptical of the high-speed rail plans, but said he planned to wait for more reports before deciding what to do.
In both Wisconsin and Ohio, new Republican governors have cancelled rail projects.
The “Reason report” recommended that Florida should scrap the project because the state could be saddled with subsidising the line’s operating costs.
Ross Capon of NARP said: “High-speed rail is a win-win for the public.
“There would be no state subsidies required for operations. The state of Florida will still own the system, and travellers will have access to a world-class travel choice.
“The seven international private-sector groups bidding to win the right to operate high-speed trains on this corridor have indicated they are willing take the ridership and revenue risk.”
Mr Capon said the “Reason report” also attempts to raise the spectre of massive cost overruns.
But he said the federal commitment to the £1.6 billion project is now almost £1.5 billion.
Florida already owns most of the land that the line would use, and the environmental studies required for construction have been completed.
He said the project would create much-needed jobs in a construction sector that has seen heavy losses due to the recession.
Orlando-Tampa could open in 2015 with five stations -including a station at Orlando International Airport - and trains operating at up to 168 mph and would be the first segment of Florida’s plan to build a line to Miami.
One commentator on the Sunshine News website said: “The state will be forever doomed to have poor infrastructure as long as it keeps electing Republican politicians who keep destroying high-speed rail plans. Meanwhile, the Chinese are building the transport network of the 21st century.”
Another said: “I can't believe how much ultra-right-wing oil lobbyists are hijacking and distorting what is as plain as the nose on your face. We must move away from a heavily oil dependent economy like every other country on the planet. Even Saudi Arabia is investing in high speed rail.”
Information from NARP NARP
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