INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The county is poised to sue Virgin Trains again, and this time, the cost of improving and maintaining crossings is likely to be the focus.

County commissioners on Tuesday voted unanimously to hire Murphy & Walker, a Vero Beach law firm, to research crossings and go to court in new legal action against Virgin Trains, formerly Brightline.

At question is whether Indian River County — which for decades has maintained the crossings on the historic Florida East Coast Railway tracks — should pay for crossing changes needed for Virgin Trains to run 32 higher-speed passenger trains along the corridor daily. Maintenance costs vary, but since 2011, it has cost Indian River County about $235,000 a year, according to the railroad.

Indian River County has long insisted it should not be responsible for those costs, because its agreement was with Florida East Coast Railway, not Virgin Trains.

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County Attorney Dylan Reingold on Tuesday told commissioners Murphy & Walker would focus on the county’s 2013 decision not to make the railroad — at that time called All Aboard Florida — a third-party beneficiary of its agreements with Florida East Coast Railway.

Attorney Casey Walker, Reingold said in a memo to the commission, "believes that in the absence of amendments to the crossing agreements, neither (Virgin Trains) nor FECR is entitled to seek county reimbursement of capital expenditures or maintenance costs incurred as a result of (Virgin’s) higher-speed passenger-rail service.”

The county will ask a court to declare its crossing agreements do not require the county to pay for Virgin Trains-related cost of improvements and maintenance.

Commissioners set no cap on what the county would pay for its new legal action against the railroad. But Walker will be paid $290 per hour, and other lawyers in the firm will be paid up to $200 per hour.

Reingold said the county would file the lawsuit in either state circuit court or federal district court.

Indian River and Martin County since 2015 have fought All Aboard Florida, Brightline and Virgin Trains through a variety of lawsuits, including one in U.S. District Court.

But on Nov. 20, Martin County settled with Virgin, while Indian River rejected a proposed settlement agreement and instead allocated another $1 million to continue fighting the railroad.

Indian River County already has spent about $3 million fighting the railroad, according to county records. Martin County spent about $4 million fighting the train's expansion, financial records show.

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The agreement accepted by Martin County has a number of financial and safety concessions, including a promise to pay a portion of increased crossing-maintenance costs for Virgin Train’s first 14 years of operations.

It also requires Virgin Trains to invest up to $1 million to add fencing, above what is recommended by the Federal Railroad Administration; build a pedestrian overpass in Martin County; and a station somewhere on the Treasure Coast.

In exchange, Martin County agreed to stand aside and allow Virgin Trains to build phase 2 of its project unhindered by new legal challenges or lobbying, including challenges to environmental permits and financing.

Indian River still is awaiting a ruling from a Nov. 28 hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Judge Christopher Cooper said he would rule by Dec. 31.

Virgin Trains began service among West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami earlier this year and has said it would extend its corridor north from west Palm Beach and begin full service to Orlando in 2021.

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