Florida High Speed Rail Officially Announced

[Metro Jacksonville]

Florida High Speed Rail Officially Announced



Today, the Obama administration will award Florida up to $1.3 billion in stimulus funds to construct the nation's second high-speed rail system.  The 90 mile, double tracked line will run in the median of I-4, connecting Tampa and Orlando.


Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-jan-florida-high-speed-rail-officially-announced

[copperfiend]

The Tourist Train

[Doctor_K]

THat goes nowhere and connects nothing.  Hey!  It's the Central Florida Skyway!

[jbovinette]

Yea pretty much. Also did you see "No train type has been chosen, though the state prefers a train powered by electricity, most likely from overhead lines, records indicate."

OVERHEAD LINES? How tacky!

[tufsu1]

THat goes nowhere and connects nothing.  Hey!  It's the Central Florida Skyway!

because downtown Tampa is nowhere/nothing?

btw, another article

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jan/28/florida-awaits-obamas-high-speed-rail-announcement/news-politics/

[Dog Walker]

Overhead electric lines are used by almost all high speed trains everywhere in the world.  Electric power has proven to be the cleanest and most efficient method for powering passenger rail at almost every level of service from TGV to street cars.

Ock could probably give us the technical reasons why and has some excellent pictures of how unobtrusive the overhead lines are.

[billy]

Georgia is set to receive a whopping $750,000.
(according to the AJC)

[JeffreyS]

So is the Miami to Jax Amtrak upgrade not going to happen?

[JeffreyS]

I do hope that HSR suceeds.

[aaapolito]

Since there is no exiting track along the I-4 median, was it a possibility to implement magnetic levitation ("maglev") technology?  I know that companies in Japan have implemented this technology.

I suppose that one of the major problems with the maglev system is that there is no possibility of inter-working the system with current rail infrastructure.  As a result, there would be a greater chance for "central florida skyway."

[thelakelander]

Here are a few allocations:

California: $2.25 billion for HSR, $99 million for smaller conventional rail projects

Chicago-St. Louis corridor: $1.1 billion

Chicago-Detroit corridor: $244 million

Milwaukee-Madison corridor: $810 million

Cleveland-Cincinnati corridor: $400 million

Tampa-Orlando corridor: $1.25 billion

Raleigh-Charlotte corridor: $520 million

Washington State: $590 million

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/D1A66CA7501E947E862576B9000CFB3F?OpenDocument

[copperfiend]

I do hope that HSR suceeds.

I do as well but as a Jacksonville resident, it is a little disappointing.

[thelakelander]

If Jax wants to be a player at these games, it has to show up.  The places awarded have been lobbying for these improvements for years.  Jax was no where to be found.  This is why its so important to push now.  If we never make a push, we'll never get to the point of being awarded anything significant.

[thelakelander]

So is the Miami to Jax Amtrak upgrade not going to happen?

I would not say that right now. No state received more than half of their original request.  Also, don't forget there is funding available every year for HSR, plus additional funding from other transportation sources.

[copperfiend]

If Jax wants to be a player at these games, it has to show up.  The places awarded have been lobbying for these improvements for years.  Jax was no where to be found.  This is why its so important to push now.  If we never make a push, we'll never get to the point of being awarded anything significant.

Completely agree.