Letter: Don’t believe outrageous claims made by AAF promoters

Jeffrey Ream, Vero Beach

Bob Webster's Dec. 28 ("Safety issues being addressed by AAF") attacks by name a good person's concerns about All Aboard Florida.

Webster says hazardous freight and AAF don't share the same tracks. He doesn't consider that a 55 mph hazmat train passing within 6 feet of a 110 mph AAF train in the same track corridor is potentially dangerous.

He believes that regulatory bodies will always act for individual and public safety above corporate and political interests.

He believes corporations have superior property rights relative to individuals affected by their actions.

He believes Louis Berger saying AAF will carry 1.5 times more passengers than Acela between Boston and DC. Really?

If you pay a consultant to validate your product, maybe they will tell you what you want to hear.

He doesn't consider many fundamental differences between the 450-mile Northeast Corridor and the 235-mile Miami/Orlando route.

If the analysis is so good, why can't AAF sell its junk bonds?

Here are three simple reasons why I oppose AAF:

The Louis Berger analysis is speculative fiction compared with actual Acela ridership. The Northeast Corridor has 50 million-plus people and is the center of U.S. industrial and financial concentration serving double the miles with four times the stations.

So AAF will carry 50 percent more passengers than Acela with revenue near $100 million per year? Get realistic. Calibrate your analysis so it replicates actual Acela results and I'll listen.

Public safety, train horn noise, public crossing costs and crossing disruption impacts don't exist on the northeast corridor with 11 at-grade crossings compared with AAF's 349 at-grade crossings.