Sunrail bill passes: What it means for Jacksonville

[JaxNative68]

i may be part of the problem, cause i can't imagine sitting on a train for 9 hours when i can drive there in 5, unless they brought back the old fashion bar car, but drinking for 9 hours could be even more trouble

[mtraininjax]

The track will be upgraded as a part of the Amtrak plan.

Lake - You realize that is going to cost a small fortune, and for what? To gain 11 MPH? Why not just use the money to create nicer stations and amenities for the travelers, is the extra MPH worth it? I would not travel down FEC just to go 11 MPH faster, but I would for nicer stations and amenities at the stops.

[mtraininjax]

the old fashion bar car

Club car is there, and serves the finest Budweiser and Heineken you can buy.

[JaxNative68]

^ nice!

[Lunican]

Mtrain, not sure what you are talking about. Church Street is not an Amtrak stop and the Silver Meteor is not gone. It runs every day.

[thelakelander]

The track will be upgraded as a part of the Amtrak plan.

Lake - You realize that is going to cost a small fortune, and for what? To gain 11 MPH? Why not just use the money to create nicer stations and amenities for the travelers, is the extra MPH worth it? I would not travel down FEC just to go 11 MPH faster, but I would for nicer stations and amenities at the stops.

Talk to Amtrak, FEC and Obama about it.  According to Obama's administration, intercity service running at 90 mph qualifies as HSR.  So I assume if they don't upgrade to 90, they can't apply for HSR dollars to fund it.  Anyway, its peanuts compared to what the Tampa/Orlando line will cost.

[mtraininjax]

Church Street is not an Amtrak stop and the Silver Meteor is not gone. It runs every day.

Check Amtrak's website. Amtrak offers service from Orlando to Tampa/St. Pete, Ft. Meyers, and the terminus is the Orlando Church Street Station. The fact that it "may" be bus service, does not differ from the FACT that Amtrak puts it on the Atlantic Coast Service operations Guide as of Oct 26, 2009.


The Meteor and Star both stop in Orlando, between the stops at Winter Park and Kissimmee. They refer to it as Mile 1124. Amtrak did get cute and roll the Meteor and Star into their "Silver Service"

[Lunican]

I don't see any mention of Church Street.

Silver Service / Palmetto Atlantic Coast Service

[Bostech]

This is Obama's fault.

[Ocklawaha]

For those who are totally confused by Mtrain's "Church Street Station," THIS is the Orlando, Florida Amtrak Station. It is located at 1400 Sligh Blvd, just two blocks west of Orlando Regional Medical Center or Winnie Palmer Children's Hospital (Where little "Robert" my train loving 2 year old grandchild was born).


Church Street Station has not seen regular train service since 1926, when the "new" Orlando station opened on Sligh. The original Church Street Station was built by the South Florida Railroad, a 3' foot gauge (Colombian Narrow Gauge Standards!) Railroad from Sanford on Lake Monroe, to Tampa. The PLANT SYSTEM bought out the South Florida and opened Church Street in 1900, replacing the older 1882 "SOUTH FLORIDA," station. In 1904 the Plant System, (Henry B. Plant of local Jacksonville fame) died and his estate sold out to the Atlantic Coast Line, which was rapidly building and merging South from Richmond, VA. The Plant lines gave the ACL a fantastic and extensive network of Florida rail lines.

SEABOARD AIR LINE RAILROAD station, was located on Central Avenue, and contrary to some popular beliefs, had nothing to do with Church Street Station. The Central Avenue Station was last used as an office/freight agency, but hadn't seen regular passenger service for decades when it closed. The final active station on the Seaboard's old Orlando Subdivision, (Wildwood - Leesburg - Tavares - Plymouth - Apopka - Orlando - Winter Park - Oviedo/Lake Charm) was Plymouth. Today the Florida Central Railroad, a Pinsley Shortline, operates much of the former Seaboard branch and maintains it's offices and shops at the old Plymouth Station.


Orlando Lynx Transit has a beautiful new station at Livingston and Garland, downtown and slightly North of the old Church Street Station. Mark my words here, THIS has the earmarks of becoming a real Transportation Center and is a far better layout of it's design elements then Jacksonville has planned.

As far as the port "Finally getting rail..." Uh, the port has rail, and HAS HAD RAIL since the 1870's. The fix is that the port doesn't have the correct type of rail on the northside, IE:

Neutral Access Terminal Company
Container Facilities
Bulk Terminal
Intermodal Rail-Highway-Sea-Air facility.

If we really want the edge over the other Ports, we need to get on this YESTERDAY!


OCKLAWAHA

[tufsu1]

and here is a primary reason why Florida did the deal with CSX to move freight trains

http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/1937576,CST-NWS-ride14.article

people should consider these issues when touting the use of rail for moving lots of freight AND lots of people.

[CS Foltz]

tufsu1 if your referring to the funding that is one thing...........if your referring to the track situation, that is something else! Yes I do agree with the concept of separate tracks since HSR would not be able to use freight dedicated lines to travel on at the same time! Passing track  is an option but true HSR would require its own separate set of tracks suitable for High Speed. Concrete ties, super stabilized bed, light and control system's suitable for such speeds including cross overs..........lotta money big guy! Lousy One Billion Dollars would just be scratching the surface and that's not taking into account maintenance of tracks, equipment and stopping points where ever they might be.......so One Billion big ones is just the consulting end, not even system being constructed..........but I am not a consultant so I am just guessing of course............did not even mention ticketing and service infrastructure needed!

[tufsu1]

its not just HSR, but any form of passenger rail....try and get reliable commuter rail service in Jax. with freight trains crossing the river every 30-45 minutes

[DavidWilliams]

Just a guess...nothing for Jax. That seems to be the way it generally works once we mix our locals with feds and state.

[Ocklawaha]

its not just HSR, but any form of passenger rail....try and get reliable commuter rail service in Jax. with freight trains crossing the river every 30-45 minutes

Bull Shit TUFSU1...  Yeah, I've heard all the HSR maniac's cry about needing super track, but I'm not even convinced we need HSR. This country hasn't even got a national system that is more then a bare bones skeleton, and I sure as hell don't see hundreds of thousands of new converts to rail suddenly showing up because we have a super train. If we don't train the masses to use rail, there is no point in jumping off the deep end into a waterless pool.

As for the FEC? Come on man, the FEC handled just as many freight movements "back in the day" and still fielded one of the most extensive fleets of passenger trains in the country. Today, with the second track replaced, and that fantastic signaling system they have, it's just a matter of SCHEDULING. There should be nothing hard about integrating commuter rail into their current freight schedules (which I have) and frankly only a couple of trains will even encounter the commutes. The schedule is such that with 30-45 minute headways, a train can clear Bowden or St. Augustine, BEFORE or AFTER the freight has passed.

You scared these poor boys and girls, hell this isn't rocket science... You know, the two of us could do this with a telegraph key and a bucket of flimsey's. CS can be our Mudhop!


OCKLAWAHA