Railroad to JIA Ever Coming?

[thelakelander]

At one point, the old rail line went south and served the warehouse that Northrop Grumman occupies at the intersection of POW-MIA Memorial Parkway and Crossover Street.

You can see a piece of old random rail here: https://goo.gl/maps/Uex9Y8mYKDUjjEas9

[Jason]

Looking at the street view  from Otis Road under I-10 (link below), I am wondering if the clearance is high enough for a railroad to clear underneath.  Can anyone confirm this is good?  Certainly doesn't seem that a double stacked rail car could clear this.  Do they plan to rebuild that overpass to a higher elevation?

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3050504,-81.898745,3a,41.3y,178.83h,84.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sU1ZfVF2rBI3rQrpnQB3kwg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

While it may never happen, it does appear to me there is a pathway to continue a rail line down to the airport and follow the perimeter road along 103rd to the large undeveloped land on the east side of the runway.  If Boeing or others brought the right kind of project to that area, it might justify such an extension.

If you zoom in on the pine tree at the fork in the dirt road, there are still rails present, and it looks like there are rails crossing the dirt road that heads west. Now, I don't know if a double-stack will fit under I-10, but there was definitely a rail line there at one time. Looking at Google Earth from Jan. 1994, you can see a rail spur branching from the mainline parallel to Beaver Street, heading south into the Cecil Field NAS, going by at least one of the "weapons bunkers" north of Normandy.

Sorry, can't figure out how to add a photo here.

Here is the view of the old tracks under I-10:
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3050144,-81.8988426,3a,36.1y,159.81h,75.85t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sB6cwZzIutbyvbm_il2V1Lw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[Jason]

These are from 1995

https://www.imagebam.com/view/MEH5WPE

https://www.imagebam.com/view/MEH5WPC

[marcuscnelson]

FDOT declined to include the North Rail Corridor in their final draft of the 2022 State Rail Plan.

https://www.fdot.gov/rail/plans/railplan

[jaxlongtimer]

This is impressive.  Jacksonville is so far behind in even thinking of this in our future.  Note the rail connection tying into the airport vs. Jax walking away from even preserving a chance to do this one day.  And, additional connections from the Orlando airport to the convention center and Disney are in the cards.

Intercity rail company Brightline on Jan. 9 pulled back the curtain on its future Central Florida train station at Orlando International Airport with the release of a video and renderings.

The station's main entrance is off the airport’s two-story glass atrium. Once inside the station, passengers can buy tickets from guest services or self-service kiosks, and check luggage before proceeding through touchless turnstiles into the security screening area. Brightline is currently the only rail system in America that screens all passengers and bags prior to boarding.

The three-story station, which features luxury amenities for travelers, is expected to open this year. The station will include an upscale retail experience with in-station shopping and its Mary Mary Bar, serving hand-crafted cocktails and light bites. The signature sit-down bar is at the far end of the station with a panoramic view overlooking the train platform where guests can watch as trains arrive and depart the platform.

Located above the Mary Mary bar is an iconic, flip-flap message board that can rotate text and graphics to form a message. A nostalgic nod to historic train stations, the flip-flap will provide updated train schedules, boarding times, news of the day and other announcements complete with the flip-flap sound reminiscent of the first passenger train stations in America.

Passengers will access trains by escalator or elevators to the first level platform and board from one of two new track platforms. These 1,000-foot-long platforms will accommodate a train with four coaches and two locomotives that will transport guests on the Orlando to Miami route in just over three hours.

Brightline offers two classes of service: Smart and Premium. Brightline’s Premium service will provide complimentary drinks and snacks in a dedicated lounge and train coach. Throughout the station, all guests will have access to free high-speed Wi-Fi, charging stations at every seat, 87 big-screen TVs and a children’s play area in the Smart lounge.

The 37,350-square-foot station is in the heart of Orlando International Airport’s new 80,000-square-foot Terminal C and connects directly to the airport’s parking deck C, which will have more than 350 parking spaces reserved for Brightline guests. An automated people mover connects the terminal to the rest of the airport facilities including Terminal A and B in under five minutes....

....Meanwhile, Brightline's route to Orlando International Airport is roughly 86% complete and is expecting to complete construction by the middle of 2023. Revenue service on the roughly 170-mile expansion is targeted to begin later this year.

Brightline and commuter rail SunRail also are approaching the next steps for a proposed shared "Sunshine Corridor" for the two rail services. That shared east-west corridor would allow SunRail to connect with a station near Walt Disney World, near the Orange County Convention Center and Orlando International Airport, while also allowing Brightline to make its connection with Tampa....

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2023/01/09/brightline-new-luxury-train-station-florida.html?utm_source=st&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=ae&utm_content=JA&j=30211175&senddate=2023-01-10

[marcuscnelson]

To their credit, Orlando has been persistent. A high speed rail station at the airport has been planned or proposed for something like three decades now, including multiple shut-down projects (at least two of which the current mayor was in office to watch die), and finally they're seeing that dream come to fruition. Meanwhile Jacksonville's leadership has pretty much avoided being at the table at all when it comes to mass transportation. Especially seeing all the recent celebration of hitting a million residents, being the largest city in the country without an actual local rail system is a mistake we're going to pay for.

[thelakelander]

Back in the day, we (this website) had representatives attending high speed rail meetings in Central Florida than Jax's public agencies. The current outcome isn't a surprise. I mentioned a long time ago that the rail corridor thing to the airport wasn't real. That not being in the plan isn't surprising either. No rail operator proposed that and we all know that no local entity was going to pony up the cash for it. If you want to see an expansion of rail here happen within your lifetime, pray that some entity like Amtrak gets the money for their plans. We're no closer to a project happening at the local level today than we were 20 years ago.