The Amtrak service to Tampa STILL needs to go through Orlando–that should NOT change. What SHOULD change is Miami trains going ALL THE WAY to the Gulf Coast, in to Tampa, then a reverse move OUT of Tampa, onto a wye, and THEN BACK past E.N.E. past Lakeland and ONLY THEN, turning south-southeast toward WPB and Miami. That, again, is an abortion. And needless torture. Taking WPB & Miami Amtrak pax thru Orlando is not so bad, but DON’T force SOME of Amtrak’s Miami & WPB pax (one of the two Silver Service trains) to go through that, because they are NOT likely to do that again, especially if they started in the Northeast (PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA) where the through time to Miami gets to be 28, 30, 31, 32, 36 hours. That’s pretty sadistic, considering you could drive it and spend a night in a hotel, rest 8 hours, shower, have meals seated, pay for the motel and gas, have money left over (if you bought a sleeping car accommodation, you arrive broke) and do it in less time.

Use DC as the example, because north of there the NEC trains are going 110, 125, 135 MPH most of the way, so you can NOT drive from NYC to DC faster — under three hours. (225 Miles)

BUT… as soon as you go south of the Potomac, the service grinds to a halt in comparison. That’s probably why those Palmetto people are not going to want to stay on that train to Jax. The other reason is that NC $upport$ the service with 403 funds. SC, GA, and FL do NOT do that. And THAT is why you don’t have Palmettos to Jax; why you still have no Jax-NOLA service, even though it was the ONLY Amtrak service to the Flah-ree-DUH state Capitol, Tallahassee. FL doesn’t want to pay for it, it’s abysmally slow, and the connections are AWFUL. It used to start in Miami, which made some sense, but for some reason, (maybe that it takes twice as long as driving, I don’t know, maybe THAT could be IT!) they cut it back to Orlando, and, as others have stated very well, if you have only one train each way every OTHER day (The Sunset “Limited”–yes, limited SPEED, limited SERVICE DAYS, limited LIFESPAN…) it just makes no sense. And, so, it died.

TriRail, which I rode only out of DIRE NECESSITY, is an abortion and a joke. Travel time from WPB (downtown, the ONLY downtown served! Also of note, there USED to be a “PBI” Airport station on Belvedere Road–CLOSED. Now you need to go downtown WPB, and take a bus or a cab. STOOOPID.) to the Miami “Metro-Rail Transfer” (which is ACTUALLY IN HIALEAH, for CRIPES SAKE!) takes nearly 1.75 HOURS. That’s NEARLY DOUBLE THE TIME, if there’s no or typical traffic. (At not-so legal speeds, I’ve driven from Mid Beach, Miami, to Delray, 15 miles south of WPB, in 37 minutes!)

What should be done about Florida rail is different for each corridor and each purpose. Tri-Rail, as it exists now, west of the now freight-only SAL/ACL line, should be upgraded for HSR use Miami-Ft.L.-WPB-Okeecobee-Sebring-Orlando, with ALL intermediate stations other than MIA (airport, which is not getting a Metro-Rail branch!), FLL, and WPB >ELIMINATED<.

LOCAL Tri-County service should be brought EAST to the SAL/ACL line, which is WALKING DISTANCE to the Intracoastal, where the majority of SE FL people live. Also, they should have at least passing sidings or a 3rd reversible express track, for "limited" service, stopping ONLY Miami, Ft.L., (maybe Boca Raton, maybe Deerfield, maybe Delray) and WPB. BTW, another irony of having only FREIGHT service on the SAL/ACL is that while waiting on "The Quadrille," where nearly ALL PalmTran buses turn or terminate, you are literally standing on what used to be the easterly passenger station, watching long freight trains barrel through and not stop, tying up traffic!

If you want to get real sexy for the tourists and get locals of the OVER-CROWDED and ABYSSMALLY SLOW PalmTran Route 1 bus (always less than 2 blocks from the SAL/ACL), put light rail outside the SAL/ACL heavy rail, and stop at Indiantown Rd (Jupiter), PBGardens, Blue Heron (Riviera Beach), 45th, PBLakes, Clematis, Belvedere, Southern, Forest Hill, (ALL in WPB) 17th N., 10th N., Lucerne/Lake, 6th S. (all in Lake Worth), etc., all the way to appropriate turning points.

Amtrak should upgrade the Jax-Sanford-Orlando-Tampa line, and keep ONE Silver Service train on that route. The other should STILL go thru Orlando, then back SSE thru Sebring, Okeecobee, WPB, etc., to Miami, but at 45th Street/Mangonia Park (TriRail's current northern terminus) it should switch to the SAL/ACL easterly line, and run express. If the Sunshine state wants to PAY for Amtrak service thru Jax, St. Augustine, Cocoa/Canaveral, Melbourne, Daytona, etc., then they will have to do a 403 agreement. Or, let FLDoT run a Jax-Miami SAL/ACL service to augment and feed a revised & upgraded Amtrak service at those endpoints ONLY, with local riders switching to easterly local and/or "limited" trains at WPB or Miami.

To Missouri’s credit, in the first go around they asked for stimulus money to buy a Talgo trainset and run three River Runners instead of the current two daily. Maybe they will get it in the next cycle — or if the Party of No in Ohio derails the 3-Cs and that money needs to move to another swing state or two.

For example, in Lawrence, KS, where I am from, you could take Amtrak to Kansas City, but would have to wait hours before the KC Mule heads to St. Louis, thus making it a difficult trip considering drive time is 4 hours. If frequency was increased and schedules were coordinated, the trip would seem much more realistic thus attracting more riders.

This is part of the problem with Amtrak to begin with. Congress is unwilling to spend any more money than they have to on the service, yet they are unwilling to get rid of it. You end up with a far inferior product that becomes the whipping boy of anyone on the right side of the political aisle, yet they know that they can’t get rid of Amtrak as that would be a politically poor idea. If service was expanded on popular routes with good endpoint transportation solutions (local transit), I would imaging that those routes would be less of a drain and more than likely potential money makers, especially in a place such as S. Florida, where density already exists in many places.

Your point about extending the Palmetto to JAX is a good one and again could be seen as a boon to ridership if the right connections are made. Also, there is nothing wrong with a long distance daily route such as the Palmetto service sharing a line with a more frequent local service such as the FEC is meant to do. You would only be increasing the frequency of trains through the area and making rail transit more feasible for passengers, giving them more options to choose from.

My 2 pennies.
Scott

Frankly though, I’m not sure if the investment is worth it. The money might be worth more bang for the buck if it were spent on an HSR system between Orlando, Tampa, and South Florida (and not the current system they are proposing mind you). But if money can be found for both, I don’t see why not.