posted
We need that long-promised east coast route along Florida's coast from JAX to WPB (old Florida East Coast route)very badly. St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce and Melbourne need that direct service.
Florida's tourism dictates it! Tell President Bush! Tell congress!
Posts: 287 | From: Palatka, FL, USA | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Kairho: Isn't the FEC opposed to running pax on their rails?
I had heard the same thing. Since this route is entirely within Florida, you might try Gov. Jeb Bush instead. But unless there are some "influential people with clout" pushing this, I wouldn't expect to see trains on the FEC anytime soon.
Posts: 874 | From: South Bay (LA County), Calif, USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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I've asked this before, and forgot what y'all told me then, but I thought FEC recently did some major track upgrades in anticipation of AMTRAK service on that route, and I thought I recall that even a "test train" was supposed to be run along that route at one time......
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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As I have noted here in the past, development of the SAL, presently served by the Coach only Palmetto during hoot owl hours (hey ornithologists, are owls even indigenous to Florida??), should be "front and center" before any further consideration is given to the FEC.
The Seaboard serves Waldo/Gainesville- a college town (go 'Gators) where "not quite' everyone yet has a Bimmer3 or equivalent, Ocala, one of the fastest growing MSA's, and AFAIC one of the most attractive, in Florida, and The Villages where since A-"Day, the 10000 head of beef cattle have been replaced with 100000 folks of train riding age that "all came from somewhere' (and as noted by area resident, Mr. Kairho, make relatively little demand on tax supported services).
The Gold Coast on the FEC WPB-MIA is of course already served, anywhere of consequence on the Treasure Coast (Melbourne WPB) is served with Ambus connections from Orlando. Further, let us consider that unless Amtrak wishes to add sharks to their definition of a passenger, there is not too much opportunity to develop traffic to the East of the FEC.
All told, "priority one" ought to be the SAL
[This message has been edited by Gilbert B Norman (edited 08-07-2004).]
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Living in Florida, and with help of my railroad atlas, I can tell you that the line to Gainesville has been torn up. It is now a branch line fron Gainesville to Starke. This would require Amtrak to run into Gainesville and back out, which I can tell you is a waste of time. Gainesville (the home of the Florida Gators, FSU is in Tallahassee... ... where I live!), is a very small city with only 95,447 people according to my '04 Atlas. Of course the University boosts this, but there isn't enough passenger potential, or the through track to run a train. To answer any questions about FEC, they had made an agreement with Amtrak to run service, they had began to upgrade track, and I can tell you this first hand because I have a railfan friend that lives in Cocoa-Rockledge, communities along the route had already started to take money to build stations at their city. I'm not clear whether the money had been given to Amtrak, and whether it was ever refunded, which I don't think they did. Stations had already been planned and everything. Then of course came 9-11 and the new Amtrak president (Gunn, which has been very good overall), and the whole plan just sort of faded away. To make things worse, on the proposed routes between Merdien and Dallas and Las Vegas and LA, they had already began running test trains. The LV to LA one I saw personally, it was a cascades train. Overall, the FEC route would provide a ton of money. There is historic St. Augustine (the oldest continious city in the US, with an old fort, beaches, shops, and millions of tourists; if you've ever been there, the place is overcrowded with people), next there is Titusville (NASA, Port Everglades; cruise ships of course), as well as the best beaches in Florida. I can tell you, Amtrak would do so well servicing the needs of the winter birds that come each winter to the beaches of Florida. This train would do as much, if not more business than the present route via Orlando, plus it is the quickest route to Miami. I sure hope that it is someday resumed, my dad use to always ride FEC as a child (he lived in Miami), and he loved it. He just road the route a few years ago, and tells me that it is by far the most scenic route in all of Florida, perhaps most of the Southeast, and this is a line that should be ran, and for no reason shouldn't. Dang, they were so close.
Posts: 82 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Just BTW, Florida DOT and the FEC reached agreement two years ago on necessary upgrades to allow operation of one Amtrak train via FEC from Jax to WPB. The upgrade to the (existing) Northridge connection in WPB has been designed. What has put the project "on ice" is the Congressional ban on "new services", which this apparently is.
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
That connector track at Northwood needs a lot of work. I rode on it 3 or 4 years ago on a specila train and it was in such bad shape that we had to crawl at about 10 mph. Even then it seemed likely we would derail (but didn't). I do hope FEC runs passenger trains again one day.
Posts: 561 | Registered: Jul 2003
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As of Nov. 2002, many of the counties in Florida along the proposed FEC route of the new East Coast passenger Amtrak route through St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Melbourne, Vero Beach, Ft. Pierce, Stuart and West Palm Beach had already voted and lined-up funds for building new stations, parking lots and entry ramps or turnouts to the new proposed stations along with money for signs, etc. A test train was run from JAX to West Palm Beach more than 3 years ago with some dignitaries from each county along the route. The whole thing came to a stop when Washington stopped all new route expansions for Amtrak. How sad! THIS is a route that is much needed in Florida--a real tourist route. The Florida State government had already allocated $125 million in the state budget to give the new route with one train each way the probability of begining in the near future. Amtrak in Washington was already preparing to add the route to the national route map (2 years ago!) How sad!
Posts: 287 | From: Palatka, FL, USA | Registered: Feb 2004
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