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Objector claim: <br /> AAF is All About Freight and is nothing more than a nefarious scheme to obtain RRIF loan <br /> funds and/or Private Activity Bonds (PABs, from private investors) to pay for rail improvements <br /> whose real purpose is to benefit freight operations. <br /> Analysis of the facts reveals: <br /> The soon-to-open widened Panama Canal is often cited as the real reason for AAF. The belief <br /> is that the larger ships coming through the widened Canal will create a flood of new demand <br /> for freight traffic. The problem with this belief is that it has no factual basis and ignores factors <br /> that could maintain or even lower the number of daily freight trains. <br /> Greater demand for goods is the only driver of greater demand for freight shipments. The fact <br /> that bigger ships can come through the Canal does not dictate the demand for goods shipped <br /> by rail freight. <br /> Most of the current southbound freight on the FEC that originates in the Pacific will no longer <br /> come to Pacific ports to be shipped by rail to Jacksonville, FL, and handed off to the FEC for <br /> delivery to Southeast Florida. With the widened canal, most of those shipments will go <br /> directly through the Canal to southeast Florida ports. This will cause a concurrent drop in <br /> southbound shipments as they no longer take the same route to Southeast Florida. <br /> Most other freight bound for other Eastern US destinations north of Jacksonville will likely be <br /> offloaded at other improved port facilities that can handle the larger ships. In addition to <br /> Southeast Florida, ports now capable of handling the larger ships include Mobile, Alabama; <br /> Newport, Virginia, and New York. Within one or two years of AAF being operational, additional <br /> improved ports are expected to be operational in Jacksonville, FL; Savannah, GA; and <br /> Charleston, SC. <br /> There is no realistic scenario under which the FEC will experience the exaggerated claims of <br /> vast increases in freight shipments that would support the claim that AAF is "All About <br /> Freight". Other aspects of AAF that contradict the "All About Freight" claim4: <br /> 1. If it's really "All About Freight" — why would AAF spend a small fortune building <br /> modern new passenger train stations in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach and <br /> Orlando? <br /> 2. If it's really "All About Freight" — why would AAF enter into a lease that requires <br /> their paying compensation for lost toll revenues to the Central Florida Expressway <br /> Authority (CFX) so they could build a costly passenger rail extension from Cocoa to <br /> Orlando that specifically prohibits any freight use? <br /> 3. If it's really "All About Freight" — why would AAF make costly upgrades to the <br /> existing FEC line from Miami to Cocoa to "Sealed Corridor" standards that are only <br /> required for passenger service? <br /> June 23, 2015 Page 6 of 12 <br /> /512-‘- <br />