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QuoteThe Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission has chosen SunRail as the new name for the planned 61.5 mile Central Florida Commuter Rail project after a two-month selection process in which 3,000 residents weighed in with their thoughts.
SunRail was the top pick out of more than 400 names submitted with the name SunTrax coming in second. The commission selected SunRail in a unanimous vote Dec. 19.
The $650 million rail project will link Orange, Seminole, Volusia and Osceola counties beginning in 2011. Funding for the purchase of the rail line was scuttled in the Legislature in May because of liability concerns. Lawmakers in the Orlando area are trying to forge a compromise that could win approval of both houses.
The commission has also selected a logo to go with the name, one designed by Jim Bockstall of Bockstall Design Associates.
http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2008/12/22/daily5.html
In related news, Mayor Peyton announced the finalists for naming Jacksonville's rail system:
"No Rail" and "DeRail"
Congratulations to Orlando for continuing to move ahead. Now, if the Legislature will give them the needed liability coverage ...
Maybe we should call our BRT faux rail.
If we get a ground swell of support and run over the boy mayor with our streetcar plans, do we get to call it "REBEL RAIL?"
I am quite proud of Orlando, Tampa and John Mica, they have come a long, long way since that first meeting with John in his first Congressional Campaign. He REALLY jumped on the rail band wagon!
The name leaves me cold... All these spiffy "MEANS NOTHING NAMES" are sickening. There are some real stupid sounding ones, and others that just leave you shrugging and wondering what the hell? For example:
CSX - This tells me what? Someone couldn't spell Chessie Seaboard System... Oops that would be CSS. The idea of a Chessie - Seaboard Express, CSX also sounds more like a train then a railroad that goes somewhere.
Kyle Railroad - Uh? A modest dude named Kyle owns it? YEP.
Then there is all the legalistic state named bull shit, such as:
Sun Rail
Sun Trans
Sun Pass
HART
JTA
etc...
The best to me were the classic names that said something about the company or at least it's goals:
FLORIDA EAST COAST
JACKSONVILLE TRACTION
CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE, ST. PAUL AND PACIFIC
GULF, MOBILE AND OHIO
SOUTHERN
hell even the:
OCKLAWAHA VALLEY RR, had a better name. One wonders what we would call it today, lets see now, Palatka to Ocala?
P-M-R No real name just some vague letters for Putnam-Marion-Railroad
No I've got it!
SUN TRAIN!
Sorry fella's - I'd throw this one and the names it came in with back in Lake Eola.
SUN RAIL?
Naw! More like "Mickeys Toontown Train".
OCKLAWAHA
So how do you feel about the Tri Rail or the TECO Line Streetcar?
Tri-Rail is another "catch phrase" that doesn't tell me anything. Tri-Cities? Golden Triangle? Tri-County? 3 Rivers? etc...
Sun Rail could (maybe should) be in Phoenix, El Paso, Amarillo, or Albuquerque?
TECO is a whole other matter. GREAT NAME! It is a classic case of railroad initials meaning something. The historic line in Tampa was TECO, and that stood for Tampa Electric Company. It's a great bow to history, just as Central Arkansas Railway has done.
I'm praying that we hang on to JACKSONVILLE TRACTION or one of the many other historic names. Frankly it would be cool to have a heritage line with 3 or 4 car types. (The mechanical parts are all the same anyway).
Then have them running in several of the classic "fallen flag" names from our past. JACKSONVILLE AND LA VILLA, NORTH JACKSONVILLE STREET RY, PINE STREET or MAIN STREET RAILWAY, DUVAL TRACTION, ORTEGA TRACTION or SOUTH JACKSONVILLE MUNICIPAL RY's, to name a few "stars".
OCKLAWAHA
Or it could be that Tampa Electric (TECO) bought the naming rights....I doubt anyone was thinking about the history of it....in fact, I never heard anything reported regarding the name history.
As for Tri-Rail, it is for the three counties!
I knew what they stood for and where they are, what I'm saying is I don't like the generic branding.
TECO or Tampa Electric Company is the talk of some 5 million railfans around the world. Don't believe for a second that the history of the names, hasn't counted amoung that group, or the volunteers in Tampa.
http://www.heritagetrolley.org/planTampaAndYbor.htm
OCKLAWAHA