Since 2013, the state has paid at least $42 million a year to run a South Florida railroad.

Now, Florida officials have hit upon a better way to run a railroad: Let three South Florida counties pay for it.

In a stunning setback after the fiscal year began July 1, the Florida Department of Transportation cut the money it pays to maintain and operate 80 miles of track for Amtrak passenger trains, CSX freight trains and the Tri-Rail South Florida commuter service.

Instead of $42.1 million, the minimum set in state law, FDOT says it needs to pay only $15 million. But the gap is even greater as the state had been prepared to pay $62 million this year.

If the counties don’t step up to fill the gap or state lawmakers force FDOT to reconsider, the agency that the state set up to run the railroad in the 1980s, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, will cease to exist in July 2027.