AAF: Work begins — finally — on Miami-to-Orlando fast train

[thelakelander]

Work is underway...

Preliminary work has begun for construction of a $2.5 billion express passenger train between Miami and Orlando.

In preparation for the project, 35,000 linear feet of new steel rails have been laid on the ground alongside existing freight train tracks at two sites in Palm Beach County just west of North Dixie Highway in Boca Raton.

Parking lots that for years were packed with vehicles next to the Miami-Dade County Hall building and Metrorail tracks in downtown Miami are now empty, closed for coming construction of the train's Miami station.

The shuttered parking lots and the new steel rails mark the first physical work on the future service since the ambitious project was announced in March 2012.

All Aboard Florida, as the project is called, is expected to begin operations in two phases: first between Miami and West Palm Beach in 2016 and then between West Palm Beach and Orlando in 2017.

Full article: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/08/25/4308932/work-begins-finally-on-miami-to.html#storylink=cpy

[mbwright]

I think this is great.  Maybe in another 50 years, it will look like Flagler and Plant never left.

[Dog Walker]

It was Ed  Ball that killed passenger train service on the east coast of Florida.

[Dog Walker]

It got so bad that he had station wagons on rail wheels traveling just ahead of each train for a while.  It will full of armed guards.  "Cast iron son-of-a-bitch" was his description of himself and completely accurate.

I think it was the last of the union wars in this country.

[JimInJax]

For this to succeed, it needs 3 things. 1) a cost lower than air travel 2) high speed - has to be faster than driving 3) timely routes and departure times to support different rider profiles.

When I go to So Florida, say to leave on a cruise, this would be a fantastic option! I think it would also open up new options for visiting The Keys.

Jim

[finehoe]

I think it was the last of the union wars in this country.

No, they continue.

[Dog Walker]

Stephen and I are talking actual violence with undercover agents, shootings, dynamite, hied thugs, etc.

Unions are still be suppressed and made redundant with labor laws and policies, but the violence has stopped.

[finehoe]

...but the violence has stopped.

That doesn't make it any less of a war on labor.  The economic violence continues.

[spuwho]

Because they don't have a complete environmental statement on the rest yet, and with the delays in the OIA Transit Hub, AAF maybe a Miami to WPB route for a little while.

Still alot of balls in the air for AAF. They haven't announced their train set order just yet. With service start in 18 months they got some serious work ahead of themselves.