Jacksonville - Miami Rail Project Still Moving Forward

[Metro Jacksonville]

Jacksonville - Miami Rail Project Still Moving Forward



Proponents of Amtrak service on the Florida East Coast Railway are continuing their efforts to make this rail service a reality. If successful, this $268 million project could stimulate 2,100 direct and indirect jobs along Florida's east coast by 2013, with as much as six trains a day traveling between Jacksonville and Miami. Will Jacksonville position itself to take advantage of this plan?


Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-mar-jacksonville-miami-rail-project-still-moving-forward

[aaapolito]

I would take the train from JAX to Miami over driving ANY DAY.  One slight problem though, once a passenger gets off in either JAX of Miami, they're kind of stranded.  See, unlike Penn Station NYC, Newark, or Union Station Philly, neither JAX nor Miami really have the local mass transportation connectivity that the previously mentioned cities do.

Don't get me wrong, I think that this connection is a step in the right direction, but I'm just think about the next level, local mass transportation. 

[Doctor_K]

^ Unfortunately, that same concern is repeated in just about every town that this affects.

I grew up in Melbourne.  They have SCAT buses (Space Coast Area Transit), but they're about as well-run and routes about as well-planned as the JTA buses.  Or at least, that was the perception.

[reednavy]

Why hasn't the City of Jacksonville adopted a resolution or letter of support yet? Hello, isn't it quite obvious when even the City of Bunnell does it before we do?!

[fsujax]

I do not understnad why Glorious will not introduce a resolution. All she has to do is take the one JTA did and use it.

[thelakelander]

I would take the train from JAX to Miami over driving ANY DAY.  One slight problem though, once a passenger gets off in either JAX of Miami, they're kind of stranded.  See, unlike Penn Station NYC, Newark, or Union Station Philly, neither JAX nor Miami really have the local mass transportation connectivity that the previously mentioned cities do.

Don't get me wrong, I think that this connection is a step in the right direction, but I'm just think about the next level, local mass transportation.  

Getting around Miami isn't as bad as it may seem on the surface.  Once the train arrives at the MIC (now under construction), you would have the option of switching to Metrorail, Tri-Rail, the bus, renting a car or catching a taxi.  If your destination was downtown or Brickell, you could take Metrorail to Metromover.  I would not worry as much about Miami.  Now Jacksonville is another story.

[JeffreyS]

Well as soon as jax moves to the old terminal, builds the core neighborhoods streetcar and expands the skyway the trip will be fine.

[Ocklawaha]

This is a great and keystone project for Florida rail services, sadly, if the genius of Tallahassee prevails, it will lead to complete abandonment of all other passenger train routes within the state along with the single cross state link on the new "high speed" line from roughly Titusville to Tampa.

This is a good example of planning from a generation that doesn't understand surface transportation in general or rail in particular. Thinking only "endpoint to endpoint", "limited stop", "non-stop", and single link between end points is a great way to plan an airline, and a horrid plan for rail.

In planning surface routes, intermediate stops become vital. Schedule keeping is far more important then speed for speeds sake. Woven interconnected mass transit routes function better then solo lines. Well connected choice of routes blanketing the state always superior to single isolated lines on a map. The citizens for rail should have a series of battle cries... "What about Ocala?" or "What about Ft. Myers" or "What about Deland" and "What about Tallahassee".

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

This is a great and keystone project for Florida rail services, sadly, if the genius of Tallahassee prevails, it will lead to complete abandonment of all other passenger train routes within the state along with the single cross state link on the new "high speed" line from roughly Titusville to Tampa.

This project or Sunrail?

[hightowerlover]

all these stops in crappy towns arent necessary in my opinion.  it really should just go to the major metro areas which it already does.  it reminds me of the time i rode amtrak and it stopped pretty much every ten minutes up the eastern seaboard...out of all the new proposed stops daytona is probably the only one deserving a new stop.

[Ocklawaha]

all these stops in crappy towns arent necessary in my opinion.  it really should just go to the major metro areas which it already does.  it reminds me of the time i rode amtrak and it stopped pretty much every ten minutes up the eastern seaboard...out of all the new proposed stops daytona is probably the only one deserving a new stop.

If you want to ride a plane, you'll have to go to the airport. I'm just as certain that people that live in Melbourne, Fort pierce or St. Augustine, each feel that they deserve that single stop you propose. Trains can't compete on such exclusive territory as non-stop flights and since the schedule doesn't change that much with intermediate stops, why not serve them all? Hell, if it's non-stop trains we want, then it really doesn't matter if it's on the Florida East Coast or the Union Pacific, because then it just becomes a jumble of end-point cities.

Lake, This route won't cause the problem, but the problem is in "Tallahassee Think," they don't have a clue how to plan or operate a railroad. (They all used asphalt flavored pacifiers as babies). These buffoons actually plan to serve the whole state with two rail lines, JAX-MIA via the FEC, and the new line from Tampa to Titusville via Disney! Toss in Sunrail, TriRail, HART and JTA and that's the ball game. In other words, left to their own devices FDOT and hightowerlover agree 100%. The only cities worthy of trains are JAX-MIA-WPB-FLL-MCO-TPA and MAYBE --- DAB. Orlando will be the grand central station of the whole affair, the rest of the State can suck wind and die, they have neither population or a mouse.

BTW, after the demise of TAMIAMI TRAILWAYS, GREYHOUND decided to build a new station off downtown Orlando on John Young Parkway and route every bus in Florida through that hub. The result has been a wholesale slaughter of the schedules, operations, buses and patronage... Sounds like an example to me.

OCKLAWAHA

[reednavy]

all these stops in crappy towns arent necessary in my opinion.  it really should just go to the major metro areas which it already does.  it reminds me of the time i rode amtrak and it stopped pretty much every ten minutes up the eastern seaboard...out of all the new proposed stops daytona is probably the only one deserving a new stop.

So I guess not having another transit option possibly in place before the millions expected for St. Auggie's giant birthday in a few years is crappy?

[Jason]

There is no reason at all that all of the proposed cities can't have stations.  Its still a 50 mile ride from Jax to St Aug and even further between St. Aug and Daytona.  Both cities are tourism driven and both will benefit greatly from the connection.

There can still be express trains with limited stops between Jax and Miami as demand increases.

[Doctor_K]

There can still be express trains with limited stops between Jax and Miami as demand increases.

+1!  Brilliant idea.

[Dog Walker]

Rode a train from London to Portsmouth a few years ago to see the Victory (O'Brian/Forster nut, me).
It took an hour or so and made only two stops in between.  At the end of the day went back to the station to ride back to London and got on the "local" by mistake.  It stopped at every hamlet and wound a completely different route to the same station in London.  There was a constant change of passengers at each stop until almost everybody got off at one.  It was explained to me that it was the stop where the express train from Portsmouth, that left after we did, crossed stops with the local so that everyone on the local who was going all the way to London changed trains there.

We didn't as it was entirely too much fun seeing all the little towns in southern England, but it illustrated how a combined express/local system worked.  Very well is the answer.

Oddly enough on the local, nobody ever asked us for a ticket and there wasn't anyone selling them at the Portsmouth end.  I guess there was only a charge if you went all the way to London on the local, but never really figured it out and never paid a fare even at the London end. Strange.