It’s been 41 years since passenger trains last rolled down Henry Flagler’s old railroad between West Palm Beach and Jacksonville.

But if Florida gets its way, Amtrak will run down those tracks beginning in the fall of 2012, stopping in coastal towns such as St. Augustine, Cocoa Beach and Stuart.

The Florida Department of Transportation has applied for federal stimulus money for railroad projects to bring Amtrak service to the Florida East Coast Railway.

“Everybody has always thought this was a good idea. The problem has always been the funding,” said Kim Delaney, a planner with the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, an agency that serves Boca Raton to Vero Beach.

Amtrak currently runs between Miami and Jacksonville on the CSX Transportation tracks, which parallel I-95 in South Florida. But instead of continuing up the coast like the FEC, the tracks veer inland to Orlando and Tampa before heading to Jacksonville.

It takes 9 hours to make the trip by train, 11 hours if the trains stop in Tampa.

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By Michael Turnbell, Sun Sentinel, >>> continue reading