Comments on: Amtrak Studies Florida East Coast Railway Service as State Advances High-Speed Rail

By: jasper mcmillan

jasper mcmillan — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:43:24 +0000

Its a shame that all this talk and planning for even more rail service along the Miami to Jacksonville route (that is already rail saturated)including possible HSR couldn’t include even a token one or two car train out to the capitol as well as Pensacola, Florida’s stepchild. Pensacola has long been treated as though it were part of Alabama vice Florida. Old maps of Florida actually only showed the state as far as Tallahassee and no further. Its a messed up situation. Florida’s own politico’s even hold West Florida in contempt. No consideration is given to the transportation needs of anyone west of Jacksonville while east Florida is filled with passenger trains of every type.

By: D Lynch

D Lynch — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:56:54 +0000

High-Speed Rail will come about sooner or later and Mag-lev is the best way to go with it, elevated high over the traffic where it can really take off. It will be so efficient, that people will only want to travel that way…It’s just getting there and money should be appropriated even if bonds or stock need to be sold to materialize it. The employees should come und the Rilroad retirement act and jobs should be Unionized for profssionalism. As far as regular Rail travel, Florida had Passenger service from Jacksonville to Miami down the old Seboard Route and they just stopped the service. That was a great sevice..The Route of the Orange Blossom Speacial on the Seaboard Line. The Silver Star and Silver Meteor. I think Rail Management may have wanted it gone but for the public, it was a great ride!

By: Francoise Jones

Francoise Jones — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 23:11:40 +0000

With all the inconvenience of flying (hours in line, airport traffic, unbelievable security checks etc etc, a train running east coast of FLorida would be a wonderful addition, it would not have to be have to be high speed, and the tracks and stations are already there (i.e Melbourne)

By: Ocean Railroader

Ocean Railroader — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:23:10 +0000

I think they should have tried to build the high speed line along this route first and have the other one be a spur or a branch line of some kind. They should build this line with from Miami to Jacksonvilie with the NEC type catenary masts in that this thing should be treated as a future deep south extension of the NEC and not the other high speed rail thing which is only 64 miles long.

By: Richard Alexander Duda

Richard Alexander Duda — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:40:05 +0000

I think one things we can ALL agree on is that current passenger rail service in Florida is a MESS. Several solutions are required. You have to consider what can be done short-term, medium range, and for the future. Then you need to think about several types of services: local, intercity but intrastate, intercity AND interstate, and HSR. When you look at it that way, the FEC route is vitally important, (as is the current HSR from Tampa to MCO) as it’s not likely it can be sensibly done without. That said, I think it was a HUGE MISTAKE to implement HSR in Florida between Tampa and MCO (Orlando Airport–NOT DOWNTOWN, or even Disney/Lake Buena Vista!) instead of between Miami and either Orlando OR Jax. But, that’s what they funded. First. Oh well. :-(

In answer to one question why they are still looking at the ‘squiggly’ route from WPB to Orlando without going straight north on the east coast along I-95 then west, is that they are considering using Florida’s Turnpike for a possible alignment. I don’t think they considered the FEC, since it’s an in-town route, so upgrading it for use as mixed HSR and freight would be unfeasible. And there’s too many grade crossings.

For intercity, interstate service, NY to Miami trains should use two routes: one, the current faster of the two Silver Service routes, thru DeLand, Sanford, Orlando, Sebring, Okeechobee, WPB, etc. (WITHOUT overshooting far to the west coast, into Tampa, then requiring that awkward reverse move back out of Tampa! That is a torturous, convoluted abortion of a thing to put “intercity” rail passengers through!) and the other along the FEC, bypassing Orlando. The reason why they probably don’t want to run Miami trains ONLY on the FEC is that there is a demand for trips from Miami/Ft.L./WPB to Orlando, as well as north of there, and they’re trying to satisfy several needs with only two trains, on one route.

That, obviously, is not a good solution.

Tampa I-C from outside Florida service SHOULD go thru Orlando, as it does now, unless as one mentioned we want to restore train service thru Ocala and or Gainesville, which I don’t think is going to happen soon; or when the HSR is completed, east thru MCO to the east coast, if the FEC service is restored, maybe there could be some service that way as well.

The FEC alignment between Miami and WPB should be used for several services new:

- LIGHT-RAIL n. & s. from Ft.L., WPB, Miami (north only).
- LOCAL inter-county service between Miami and Jupiter: more like the existing Tri-Rail, serving Miami, Aventura, Hallandale, Hollywood, Dania, Ft.L., Oakland Park, Pompano, Hillsboro, Deerfield, Boca, Delray, Lantana, Lake Worth, WPB, Riviera, PB Gardens, Juno, Jupiter, etc.
- LIMITED-stop service between Miami & Jupiter, making ONLY the most important stops: Miami, Ft.L., (maybe Pompano, Boca, and Delray) and WPB (and maybe PB Gardens).
- Interstate (Amtrak) only north of there, where stations get spaced further apart, all the way up to Jax.

Once that’s done, the western Tri-Rail alignment could be given over to freight, or scrapped, or MAYBE used for the HSR between Miami and central Frloida via Okeechobee & Sebring. ONE good thing about having had Tri-Rail use that route is that it HAS now been double-tracked and upgraded all the way from MIA to Mangonia Park (45th Street, north of WPB).

Either way, it looks like Orlando is going to be a bit of a hub for the HSR service, with spokes out to Jax, Tampa, WPB, and maybe due east to Melbourne? Then due north of there on the FEC to Jax? That seems too complicated to me. (THAT is why the FL Turnpike route makes more sense south of Orlando, rather than the SR-60 east-west & I-95 route north-south.)

By: Jake Jacobson

Jake Jacobson — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:21:00 +0000

If these politicians and businessmen would just pull theirs heads out of their asses then maybe they would see the world is by far supassing us with public transportation (rail) and if they were to look at the history of these east coast towns and cities they would see that they exist because of the railroad (FEC). It is ashame that the richest country in the world can’t even have (afford) basic passenger rail service in one of the most densly populated areas of the country.

By: jim

jim — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:53:07 +0000

The requirement that states pay for in-state service was brought in by PRIIA.

By: Anon256

Anon256 — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:24:33 +0000

The LSL connecting train actually started in Albany, so still crossed state lines. If this sort of legal detail is really an issue perhaps they could run the FEC train up to Savannah? Is it legal if the JAX-SAV portion is “suspended”?

On the other hand, why should Amtrak spend scarce money to serve Florida if Florida isn’t willing to pay for it?

By: The Rail Enthusiast

The Rail Enthusiast — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:19:06 +0000

Well, it seemed to suit Amtrak just fine to run the Boston portion of the Lake Shore Limited as a connecting train from 2004 to 2008. Based on that rationale, there’s no reason why the national carrier can provide a connecting in-state train (JAX-ORL-TPA or TPA-MIA). It’s just Amtrak management trying to stick it to non-NEC states.

By: jim

jim — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:41:12 +0000

Amtrak can’t start running an in-Florida service (whether JAX-MIA or TPA-MIA) without a contract with Florida to do so under which Florida would pay any operating losses. Given present Florida politics, how likely is it that such a contract would get negotiated, let alone signed.