WHEN AMTRAK GOES SOUTH!

[Ocklawaha]

Did everyone catch the article in the Times-Union on Amtraks return to Jacksonville Terminal, and the Florida

East Coast? Yeah, Iwas there, and some very interesting points were made. Here's a bit of the typical

local "NEWS BOOSTERISM FOR RAIL":

Amtrak weighs return of direct route to Miami

It would use Florida East Coast Railway tracks paralleling I-95.

By LARRY HANNAN, The Times-Union

It's a little early to get nostalgic for 2001, but Amtrak officials have begun talking about turning back the clock and taking a second crack at a passenger train route from Jacksonville to Miami.
Amtrak offers passenger service from Jacksonville to Miami on its Silver Star and Silver Meteor trains, but the Silver Meteor takes nine hours and goes to Orlando, while the Silver Star takes almost 11 hours and goes to Tampa on tracks owned by CSX.

Using the Florida East Coast tracks would create a quicker route down the east coast of Florida while also allowing stops in cities like St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Fort Pierce, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.
Speaking at a meeting of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority Commuter Rail Task Force last week, Jay McArthur, officer for state contracts with Amtrak, said the government-subsidized rail company wants...

(As if the Airlines, Bus and Trucking industry are not subsidized - at least we know where the T-U stands...say, backwarde to about 1958)


If you want to read a full critique of this and the full article visit me at:

http://jacksonvilletransit.blogspot.com/

"WHEN AMTRAK GOES SOUTH"

I'll drop back over and check out your comments, or feel free to comment on the transit blog as well.

You might also want to check out a feature on "Bicycles on the Skyway" or "Something Rotten in Cleveland".

OCKLAWAHA