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
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Glass Beach: Who would have ever thought? Who would have conceived that what was discarded as trash, what was useless in the eyes of the world, what was so varied in shape, size, texture, and background, could come together to be?
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Hi! Seems there is a conversation going on over
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How refreshing to see the private sector show the way!!! No tax payer risks, nothing for politicians to argue about or staff it with their friends and fund raisers. There have been rumors in SE Florida since “Tri-Rail” was formed twenty years ago to extend service further North.
Florida DOT purchased the tracks between MIA and Mangonia Park(just North of West Palm)soon after Tri-Rail started running trains. The trains will run on both since Tri-Rail has spent a ton on the old CSX tracks, dual tracking the entire route alone guarantees that.
The dream of course is a passenger train from Miami to JAX. But that might be just a dream I guess. However traffic from WPB, St. Lucie, Cocoa, FEC has a large yard in New Smyrna, and Daytona is growing fast. Without ignoring Tampa/St.Pete and Orlando 75 or 80% of our 14+ million friends and neighbors are on the East Coast. Perhaps they could run a couple of trains to arrive in JAX and allow people from North of WPB to connect to Amtrak.
Well as I said it is a dream……..
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