Jacksonville Commuter Rail (neighborhood, buy, legal)

[fsquid]

I could be wrong. I thought the frieght trains still used it to woodlawn, but I haven't lived there in 2 years.

[madcapmagishion]

Maybe its time someone invented a Hybrid choo choo, that can run on real life railroad tracks which are in abundance here in Jax... BTW isn't Lite-Rail an Oxymoron. seeing as, Modern hood unit's weigh around 75 tonnes for 2000 HP passenger unit up to 250 tonnes for 6000+ HP freight units like the dual engined EMD DDA40X.

[Joke Insurance]

I just looked on Google Maps of where the abandoned S-Line runs and most of it is not a rail trail. Is the S-Line rail banked?

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by fsquid

I could be wrong. I thought the frieght trains still used it to woodlawn, but I haven't lived there in 2 years.

Maybe you're right ... I was thinking of the project when it was in the design phase, that in general Lynx would run on a "former freight line". I wouldn't be surprised if freight still ran on a portion of it.

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by madcapmagishion

Maybe its time someone invented a Hybrid choo choo, that can run on real life railroad tracks which are in abundance here in Jax... BTW isn't Lite-Rail an Oxymoron. seeing as, Modern hood unit's weigh around 75 tonnes for 2000 HP passenger unit up to 250 tonnes for 6000+ HP freight units like the dual engined EMD DDA40X.

I know -- "light rail" makes you think it's light weight! :-) The difference is that "light rail" means faster and generally electrified with a large capacity of 'light weight goods' (people) opposed to "heavy rail" which is slower, usually diesel but can be electric, and carries a large capacity of heavier goods (freight).

Different again is "commuter rail" which can be electric or diesel and can be fast and transport 'light weight goods' -- think of an Amtrak train that only runs a short distance and carries commuters every day. Commuter rail is usually a longer string of cars than light rail and is usually not self-propelled, but there are exceptions.

In all of these, the terms have nothing to do with the rails or the equipment or the kind of power -- just the commodity being transported, the speed, the length of the train. It is confusing, especially since the light rail cars are less heavy than commuter rail cars, but that's really not what "light rail" denotes.

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by madcapmagishion

The only infrastructure needed initially would be the station platforms and the proper commuter type cars. Plus I would hope they do it the right way and make it an all electric rail system with the overhead power lines like up north, and not just go with old diesel-electric locomotives. Lets try to do it Green.

Believe me, I would love to see passenger rail of some sort here in Jax. My 'wish bubble' would be, for example, to take the train from Clay County to the hub station at the Prime Osborn, jump on the completed Skyway and head over to see the Suns or the Sharks or the Jaguars, then after the game take the Skyway back to the Landing, then hop back on to the Prime Osborn and take the train back to Clay County. If I worked in or near downtown Jax I would be thrilled to leave my car in Clay and have 30+/- minutes of stress-free travel.

Leaving the Skyway out of it, what would need to happen is:
1) upgrade of the tracks
2) rebuild of grade crossings and upgrade of signaling
3) building stations/platforms and parking lots
4) if electric, installing overhead catenary and substations every 2 miles or so

But before any of this could happen, before an order for cars can be put in, there would have to be a ton of different studies done by the EPA, FDOT, and by every other imaginable entity. Then would come all the legal garbage, possibly transferring ownership of the rails to the newly-formed passenger rail company or the leasing of the rails to that company, and this involves hammering out liability issues along with a ton of other things including the rescheduling of freight to accommodate a passenger schedule. The permitting and public hearing processes for such a project can be lengthy.

It's frustrating to see all the tracks and think how simple it would be to buy a couple of passenger cars and get on with it. But it's not so simple.

[madcapmagishion]

Originally Posted by mawipafl

Believe me, I would love to see passenger rail of some sort here in Jax. My 'wish bubble' would be, for example, to take the train from Clay County to the hub station at the Prime Osborn, jump on the completed Skyway and head over to see the Suns or the Sharks or the Jaguars, then after the game take the Skyway back to the Landing, then hop back on to the Prime Osborn and take the train back to Clay County. If I worked in or near downtown Jax I would be thrilled to leave my car in Clay and have 30+/- minutes of stress-free travel.

Leaving the Skyway out of it, what would need to happen is:
1) upgrade of the tracks
2) rebuild of grade crossings and upgrade of signaling
3) building stations/platforms and parking lots
4) if electric, installing overhead catenary and substations every 2 miles or so

But before any of this could happen, before an order for cars can be put in, there would have to be a ton of different studies done by the EPA, FDOT, and by every other imaginable entity. Then would come all the legal garbage, possibly transferring ownership of the rails to the newly-formed passenger rail company or the leasing of the rails to that company, and this involves hammering out liability issues along with a ton of other things including the rescheduling of freight to accommodate a passenger schedule. The permitting and public hearing processes for such a project can be lengthy.

It's frustrating to see all the tracks and think how simple it would be to buy a couple of passenger cars and get on with it. But it's not so simple.

Exactly! And you know what the biggest hurdle would be? Getting it approved by Ric Scott because if it doesn't benefit him in some way, it doesn't get done.

[iMarvin]

Originally Posted by mawipafl

I know -- "light rail" makes you think it's light weight! :-) The difference is that "light rail" means faster and generally electrified with a large capacity of 'light weight goods' (people) opposed to "heavy rail" which is slower, usually diesel but can be electric, and carries a large capacity of heavier goods (freight).

Actually heavy rail is faster than light rail. Light rail can run on streets but heavy rail can't. Examples of heavy rail are the NYC subway, the L in Chicago, and the Miami Metrorail. An example of light rail is the Charlotte LYNX light rail.

[wisescorpiogirl]

I think it would be a great alternative to driving to and from, and probably a more environmentally friendly option.

Somebody mentioned using the rail to get to the sporting events, but unless this system would be used by daily commuters and not just occasional travelers it will never get return on investment and thus nobody would build it in the first place.

The way I see it you'd need to have a better infrustructure to get people to the places they need to go after they get off the rail. I am sure people would love the opportunity to skip their daily drive, but unless there are buses, skywalks, shuttles, other trains, etc people would not be able to get where they need to go. And thus they'd resort to driving.

Nice idea, but not so easy to implement

I found a link talking about commuter rail with lots of older studies and broken links.... not a positive sign link here (http://www.jtafla.com/JTAFuturePlans/Rail/Default.aspx?page=Feasibility Study&pid=26 - broken link)

[fsquid]

you need more workers downtown, that is simply a fact.