Do you wish Jacksonville had Commuter Rail?

[Dog Walker]

"Hope this clears up any misunderstanding, frankly with the FEC, it's track and signals, add some fencing, stations, and overpasses and OMG... DAMN! "Super Railroad."

I had heard that the FEC track was among the best engineered and best maintained track in the country.  So this means that without the billions that a TGV type system would cost, we could still have shorter travel times that the Interstates with just a bit more investment.

We don't have to try to compete with the airlines for the Jax to Dallas route, much less than to LA from here, but just give me some shorter times on the 200-600 mile segments than driving!

For these shorter routes, air doesn't make any sense.  You can generally drive from Jax to Miami faster than you can fly, or at least more conveniently. 

[stjr]

Ock, I didn't catch any mention of high speeds in the Northeast Corridor:  Wash - Phil - NY - Bost

[Ocklawaha]

Ock, I didn't catch any mention of high speeds in the Northeast Corridor:  Wash - Phil - NY - Bost

Correct stjr, the premise was that all of Amtrak except the Northeast Corridor was limited to 79 MPH. My point was to inform friend tufsu1 that while that is a general rule on most track, there are quite a few places where the track and signaling have been upgraded to the point where the FRA has allowed Amtrak to increase speeds.

Certainly the Florida East Coast would be good for 90-110 MPH, but for a couple of expensive problems:

It slices through the center of every town and city on the east coast of the state.

It has more grade crossings simply because the cities have surrounded it.
 
The curves based on old right-of-way are fairly restrictive and no longer super-elevated (banked).

OCKLAWAHA

[stjr]

Got it, Ock.  Thanks.

[CS Foltz]

Basic time distance calculations for Jax to Miami would come out to 5 or 6 hours...based on 75 mph average and that's some time savings and then some....so a viable alternative to driving that distance. This taking into account slowing for towns and the like! Heck I can't drive that in that time frame unless road is totally empty with no traffic incidents or clogs! Any faster than that and you will become good friends with FHP!

[thelakelander]

I think people make to much of a big deal on how long rail systems can take to get from beginning point to end point.  Most riders will be getting on and off in the rail starved stops in between (St. Augustine, Daytona, Cocoa, Melbourne, Palm Coast, etc.).  When you factor in serving these communities, flying can't compete and depending on your destination, driving may not be the best thing either.

[CS Foltz]

Simple solution would be an "Express" to be run at predetermined times and other traffic could revolve around that that schedule....first things first....get rail up and running and go from there!

[thelakelander]

Agree 100%!