Private Profitable High Speed Rail in Texas?

[tufsu1]

Not that I think the train is planned for/by the Mouse, but they are the largest employer in Central Florida....and they contribute a significant chunk of change to the state coffers in terms of sales taxes, bed taxes, etc...then there's all the trips employees and visitors make...so why not serve them with a publicly funded transportation service?

[thelakelander]

^Personally, I don't have a problem with Disney being served by a publicly funded transportation service.  However, this screams for commuter rail (or something more localized), not HSR with limited stops in areas where Disney's 55,000 employees don't live, work, shop or play.  Seriously, how many of Disney's employees will be willing to drive out of their way to Lakeland, Tampa or Orlando's airport and drop up to $30 daily, on a one-way ticket to get to work?  I know several and the rat isn't paying them that much to afford such an endeavor.

[CS Foltz]

Gentlemen.............I have no problem with Mouseville building their own railroad nor do I have a problem with Private Enterprise doing it themselves. I have a problem in where and for what reason. What is being proposed is a feeder system to Mouseville from the Orlando Airport..........the other proposed stops are just window dressing which kinda reminds me of "Johnny and his smoke and mirror routine"! I thought the whole point of this proposed system was HSR? To me that translates into "High Speed Rail" and trip length long enough to get something up to a reasonable speed. Many stops on a 73 mile long stretch does not get the whatever up to a running speed that would make use of high speed movement. What is more to the point is "Light rail" which is just what any system installed in that region in truth would be. It may just be a matter of semantics but I am looking at 2 different types of systems with the commonality between them of "Moving People". Both systems do the same thing and its obvious to me something needs to be put in place but this is not a true test or example of HSR.............at least that's my take on the situation!

[tufsu1]

Light rail is not meant to go 73 miles!

[thelakelander]

Commuter rail, with both local and express trains, is the answer guys.  This stretch is nearly identical in length to South Florida's Tri-Rail.

[Ocklawaha]

Light rail is not meant to go 73 miles!

tufsu1, REALLY? Have you ridden some of the LRT systems? Dallas regular operations are very near 70 mph. Under the hood, light rail cars are the same basic animal as the HSR electric trains. Even back in the day...There is no reason not to hit 70 - 80 or 90 mph, on private right of way.

Early Light Rail on the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Ry,

These interurban cars embodied the latest in Art-deco styling and were equipped with numerous amenities including leather bucket seats with high headrests. Half were built as lounges to provide parlor car first class comfort. In order to promote the cars, the C&LE staged a race between Red Devil #126 and an airplane. The car achieved a speed of 97 miles per hour and "won" the highly publicized race.[8,p189 photo] Unfortunately, and typical of most interurbans, considerable open country operation was on side-of-road track and considerable urban operation was on track embedded in town streets with tight radius turns, so the Red Devils had to contend with automobile traffic and would rarely achieve these speeds in day-to-day operation, but in open country, particularly existing on the Springfield-Toledo division, they operated up to ninety miles per hour if behind schedule.

OCKLAWAHA

[CS Foltz]

Express/Light Rail is more of whats needed in Orlando! HSR would be self defeated by stops required to load and unload.........HSR is more of a long range system in excess of 100 miles out rather than 100 miles in!

[tufsu1]

Light rail is not meant to go 73 miles!

tufsu1, REALLY? Have you ridden some of the LRT systems? Dallas regular operations are very near 70 mph. Under the hood, light rail cars are the same basic animal as the HSR electric trains. Even back in the day...There is no reason not to hit 70 - 80 or 90 mph, on private right of way.

Ock...I never said 70mph...I said not meant for 70+ miles....LRT is meant for distances inside urban areas.

The Baltimore line is 27 miles long and iit takes over 1 hour to travel from one end to the other (because of downtown traffic and all the stops).

[tufsu1]

Express/Light Rail is more of whats needed in Orlando! HSR would be self defeated by stops required to load and unload.........HSR is more of a long range system in excess of 100 miles out rather than 100 miles in!

once again...this is the start....the fully planned Tampa-Orlando-Miami route would be 300+ miles

[CS Foltz]

I agree......Light Rail for Orlando/St Pete but HSR for Miami leg!

[tufsu1]

Lake has said commuter rail (and I think that's what Ock means too)....and I don't disagree that it is a viable option.

[JeffreyS]

Yes commuter rail on current ROW. Sunrail.

[tufsu1]

So tufsu, High Speed Rail or Light Rail?

I vote for all...if we're going to do HSR in this country, then FL needs to be a part of it....here's what I say

Orlando region - commuter rail on CSX and LRT
Tampa region - commuter rail on CSX and LRT
Jax region - commuter rail and streetcar/LRT
Orlando-Tampa - commuter rail and Amtrak on CSX and/or HSR
Orlando-Miami - HSR
Tampa-Miami - HSR
Orlando-Jax - HSR
Jax-Miami - Amtrak on FEC and/or HSR

[thelakelander]

I'm for all (to a degree) as well.  I believe instead of HSR between Tampa and Orlando, commuter rail on track that allows up to 90mph speeds with a mix of local and express trains would better serve that region.  Nevertheless, I think the better question is if you are working with limited funds, which projects should be a priority.

[tufsu1]

interestingly, the Tampa-Orlando HSR line will have local and express routes as well.  The documentation assumes

4 express trips per day (Tampa to OIA directly)
16 regular trips (all stops)
17 Disney Shuttles (OIA - Disney)...not sure what these (maybe they are the current buses Disney runs)...or whether they will also stop at the I-Drive/Conv. Ctr. station