Gov. Martin O’Malley is hoping Florida’s loss may be Maryland’s gain.

The Sunshine State governor, Rick Scott, announced this week Florida would return $2.4 billion in federal rail funding from the economic stimulus package. On Friday, O’Malley assured Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that should those funds find their way to Maryland, they would be appreciated.

“I believe transportation infrastructure projects including passenger rail offer a path to economic recovery and a stronger, more competitive future,” O’Malley wrote to LaHood.

The funding doesn’t appear destined for the Red and Purple lines, the most prominent of the state’s unfunded transit projects. The state is looking for about $3.5 billion to fund the light rail lines in Baltimore and suburban Washington.

O’Malley said the High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail funds could be used on the replacement of the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, the addition of track near the BWI MARC station, replacing bridges and upgrading capacity on freight lines.

“Due to Amtrak’s ownership of the majority of the infrastructure on the [Northeast Corridor], the federal responsibility for these improvements is more apparent here than in any other passenger rail corridor in the nation,” O’Malley wrote. “We urge you to reflect that obligation in future federal investment where US DOT has discretion in awarding funding.”

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As Maryland searches for a sustainable way to fund its transportation needs, the work being done in Annapolis will likely be overshadowed by changes being made in Washington.

“I’m not sure we can anticipate the feds are going to bail us out. We’re entering a new era,” Anne P. Canby, president of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership, told the Blue Ribbon Commission on Maryland Transportation Funding.

The state relies on the federal government for about 20 percent of its transportation funding, and Gov. Martin O’Malley is hoping for federal dollars to make up at least half of the construction costs of the Red and Purple Light Rail lines.

Jack Basso, director of program finance and management for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said the Obama administration is expected to release its long-term transportation funding bill in February. He said he expects the plan will emphasize funding for transit and passenger rail, promote transit-oriented development, and seek to create an infrastructure bank to spark private investment in transportation projects.

Congress has failed to pass a long-term transportation funding plan, relying on short-term funding extensions for a year. And any changes in 2011 will have to navigate a Democratic Senate and the newly Republican House of Representatives. One of the victims of the Republican wave on Nov. 2 was Rep. James L. Oberstar, the Minnesota Democrat who chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

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