Amtrak Florida Routes

[TransitRider]

REMEMBER: This is not official but its has been in talks lately!

Since when they want to restore the FEC line, Amtrak wants to restore the old line from JAX to Lakeland via Ocala, Dade City etc and expand to Tampa. This is the Palmetto route. With this way, Tampa would have three daily trains coming in/out of Tampa.

The Sunset Limited WILL not restore to Florida at once, but instead they are putting the "City of New Orleans" to go further to Orlando, this would be the best at Amtrak interests.

The FEC line is still in works and trying to push for October 2011 launch but therefore, the launch would push little longer, most likely Feburary 2012.

Lastly, Amtrak did looked at the tracks from Tampa to Ft. Myers and they say it would require billion of dollars to restore and refix the tracks because its in bad shape and need replacement of singals and grade crossing. Time frame would take 4-6 years. Amtrak says this would bring alot of ridership because of seniors living in that area which would bring 500,000 passengers a year easy and remove the thruway route there instead.

That is all folks. Have a great weekend !

 

[colobok]

REMEMBER: This is not official but its has been in talks lately!
Since when they want to restore the FEC line, Amtrak wants to restore the old line from JAX to Lakeland via Ocala, Dade City etc and expand to Tampa. This is the Palmetto route. With this way, Tampa would have three daily trains coming in/out of Tampa.

The Sunset Limited WILL not restore to Florida at once, but instead they are putting the "City of New Orleans" to go further to Orlando, this would be the best at Amtrak interests.

The FEC line is still in works and trying to push for October 2011 launch but therefore, the launch would push little longer, most likely Feburary 2012.

Lastly, Amtrak did looked at the tracks from Tampa to Ft. Myers and they say it would require billion of dollars to restore and refix the tracks because its in bad shape and need replacement of singals and grade crossing. Time frame would take 4-6 years. Amtrak says this would bring alot of ridership because of seniors living in that area which would bring 500,000 passengers a year easy and remove the thruway route there instead.

That is all folks. Have a great weekend !

That would be GREAT! But it's hard to believe. What is your source?

They didn't resolve the Sunrail issue with Florida I think.

 

[Eric S]

Is this just a rehashing of all the speculation that we've heard before? Or is this actually based upon some new information?

(Somehow I think it is the former rather than the latter.)

 

[Rail Freak]

That would be great, especially if I live to see it!!! NO SARCASUM! I think it is exactly what the doctor should order!!!

RF

 

[dlagrua]

Lastly, Amtrak did looked at the tracks from Tampa to Ft. Myers and they say it would require billion of dollars to restore and refix the tracks because its in bad shape and need replacement of singals and grade crossing. Time frame would take 4-6 years. Amtrak says this would bring alot of ridership because of seniors living in that area which would bring 500,000 passengers a year

I believe freight still uses this line so we are talking about refurbishment not a complete rebuild. Freight trains need decent track, signals and grade crossings so is the situation as bad as you describe it to be? The Tampa/ St Petersburg and Ft Meyers cities have large populations of seniors and I agree that there is a ready audience for rail service. Elderly people might jump at a chance to use rail travel

 

[battalion51]

Like I've said since I've started to pay attention to things, I'll believe it when I see it. In the nearly ten years that I've been following trains in Florida I've only seen reductions in service to the state from Amtrak. The only thing that's gotten better is Tri-Rail service. When I see the timetable and see the trains rolling, I'll believe it. Until then I'm going to be skeptical...

 

[jis]

Like I've said since I've started to pay attention to things, I'll believe it when I see it. In the nearly ten years that I've been following trains in Florida I've only seen reductions in service to the state from Amtrak. The only thing that's gotten better is Tri-Rail service. When I see the timetable and see the trains rolling, I'll believe it. Until then I'm going to be skeptical...

Actually if you'd been paying attention since 1970, you'd have seen reduction in service on A-day followed by further reduction a few years later (discontinuance of the Champion). Then a significant increase in service (introduction of Silver Palm) which lasted a while, followed by the reductions that you have seen in the last 10 years (discontinuance of Silver Palm, loss of the Ocala route). So it has been a bit of an up and down ride, and we are currently at one of the low points (hopefully).

 

[battalion51]

I still feel like I make a fairly valid point. The only services that have been added/increased since Amtrak came to be are Auto Train, Silver Palm/Palmetto, and Sunset Limited. Of those three the only one that's still around in the state of Florida is Auto Train (and isn't likely to change any time soon). We've all seen the test trains with Amtrak and FEC, nothing has happened. We've heard rumors about the Sunset/Gulf Coast Limited, nothing has happened. I hate to be a pessimist, but Amtrak has given me no reason to think or feel otherwise.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Like I've said since I've started to pay attention to things, I'll believe it when I see it. In the nearly ten years that I've been following trains in Florida I've only seen reductions in service to the state from Amtrak. The only thing that's gotten better is Tri-Rail service. When I see the timetable and see the trains rolling, I'll believe it. Until then I'm going to be skeptical...

I remember it well.

It was a bright Sunday mornig.

It was on the front page of the paper, or at least the front page of whatever section it was.

The year was about 1955

That was about 55 years ago.

I was about 10

It was the blue prints for a brand new passenger station to be built.

It had been talked about for years. Here, finally, was something tangible.

.....I am still waiting...........guess they have some more details to iron out.......

 

[Chatter163]

Is this just a rehashing of all the speculation that we've heard before?

 

[goodnightjohnwayne]

REMEMBER: This is not official but its has been in talks lately!
Since when they want to restore the FEC line, Amtrak wants to restore the old line from JAX to Lakeland via Ocala, Dade City etc and expand to Tampa. This is the Palmetto route. With this way, Tampa would have three daily trains coming in/out of Tampa.

The Sunset Limited WILL not restore to Florida at once, but instead they are putting the "City of New Orleans" to go further to Orlando, this would be the best at Amtrak interests.

The FEC line is still in works and trying to push for October 2011 launch but therefore, the launch would push little longer, most likely Feburary 2012.

Lastly, Amtrak did looked at the tracks from Tampa to Ft. Myers and they say it would require billion of dollars to restore and refix the tracks because its in bad shape and need replacement of singals and grade crossing. Time frame would take 4-6 years. Amtrak says this would bring alot of ridership because of seniors living in that area which would bring 500,000 passengers a year easy and remove the thruway route there instead.

That is all folks. Have a great weekend !

That sounds like a brief compilation of your previous posts, not an official statement.

 

[Guest_George Harris_*]

Lastly, Amtrak did looked at the tracks from Tampa to Ft. Myers and they say it would require billion of dollars to restore and refix the tracks because its in bad shape and need replacement of signals and grade crossing.

Any signals would not be a restoration, because this line never has had signals.

You can do a lot to a track for between 1 and 2 million dollars a mile. A billion is 1,000 millions, so, unless there is something like 500 miles between Tampa and Ft. Myers, this number is nonsense.

 

[wayman]

Lastly, Amtrak did looked at the tracks from Tampa to Ft. Myers and they say it would require billion of dollars to restore and refix the tracks because its in bad shape and need replacement of signals and grade crossing.

Any signals would not be a restoration, because this line never has had signals.

You can do a lot to a track for between 1 and 2 million dollars a mile. A billion is 1,000 millions, so, unless there is something like 500 miles between Tampa and Ft. Myers, this number is nonsense.

Depending on traffic, some days it feels like it's 500 miles...