Mass transportation in the Bay area?

Saturday, April 1, 2006

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Karl Guenther shows what the monorail would look like.

According to Bay News 9's partner, the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) is pushing the state to hop aboard an $8 million monorail project.

A Palm Harbor company has already been tapped to build it.

Karl Guenther of Sky Train Corporation is laying the tracks for the monorail system and he's starting with MOSI. It's a master plan that MOSI's research team is excited about.

"I think there's some innovative aspects of the monorail system that can be found locally and that's the ability to move cargo as well as people on this system," Research and Institutional Development Vice President Judith Lombana said. "It also has a regenerative energy system, so it stores it so we can use it later on."

That means no gasoline is needed for this train because it runs by the energy of the sun. That's one reason why a couple of state senators are supporting the effort.

Bay area senators Victor Crist and Mike Fasano believe it could be a prototype for more research and possibly get the engine running for monorail mass transportation in Florida.

The train would hold 20-plus people and it would start and stop all day long.

Within the next three years Guenther wants it to circle MOSI, giving visitors the chance to get off their feet. His future dreams are to connect the museum with USF and the hospitals and Busch Gardens.

"Trinidad has a group of investors that are looking to gain us a million or two to start the MOSI project," Guenther said.

He still needs another $6 million. He's hoping to get that from state lawmakers, however, many have not been too receptive to a monorail system in the past.