LONDON (Reuters) - British transport group National Express is in talks to operate a rail line in Florida, expected to be the first major high-speed rail route in the United States, the group's rail division managing director told the Observer newspaper.
"We have been on discussions with various potential consortia over the past couple of months and we are interested in being involved as the operator," Andrew Chivers told the newspaper.
The $2.6 billion line between Orlando and Tampa would largely be funded by a governmental stimulus fund, with the rest coming from debt, in a public private partnership, the paper said.
(Reporting by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Dan Lalor)
