Still Can't Take Train Directly From Fort Lauderdale To Jacksonville - How About Some Of That $2T Infrastructure Money?

[2nd trick op]

This situation is a holdover from events that took place over sixty years ago.

In the days of privatized rail passenger service. direct passenger service between Jacksonville and south Florida was handled by the Florida East Coast Railroad, hereafter called the FEC, built by Henry Flagler, and at one time, running all the way to Key West on the superstructure of what is now the Overseas Highway (US 1). Service to the west coast of Florida was divided between the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line systems, and the Key West service was abandoned after a 1935 hurricane damaged the rail line and conversion to highway use was recognized as more practical.

By the late Fifties, it had become apparent that passenger service, even on the well-patronized and senior-citizen-oriented market between the Northeast and Florida, was not sustainable. In 1961 the rail unions struck the FEC over wages. But the FEC, since it operated within only one state, was not subject to some of the Federal legislation requiring continued operation during a "cooling-off period". The union and management both held their ground, the strike was eventually broken, and the FEC became the only non-unionized major railroad in America.

The strike involved at least one serious act of sabotage in which a freight train was dynamited. The Seaboard had its own trackage into South Florida, so all passenger traffic was diverted to that route by Federal authority. The FEC, freed from passenger losses, rebuilt its coastal line for freight only, and turned small, but consistent profits for the first time since the 1920s, while the Seaboard and Atlantic Coast Line merged in 1968, and continued the normal pattern of passenger losses sustained by profitable freight service.

By the early 1970s it was becoming apparent that the entire rail freight system would have to be restructued if privatized operation were to continue, and this was accomplished over the following fifteen years, while the creation of Amtrak removed the financial burden of passenger service.

Brightline and All Aboard Florida represent a long-term high-cost gamble -- but one in which much of the investment could possibly be recovered by conversion to other purposes (although none of us are likely to be around by that time).

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by Lillie767

Okay - a show of hands of all those who need to travel from Palm Bay to Port St. Lucie on a regular basis and would take a train.

Profitable passenger rail service is only viable where there is density of population and no need of an automobile at the destination. Amtrak's NorthEast Corridor between Boston and Washington accounts for almost all of its operating profits. The Metroliner goes from, to, and through all the major cities in the northeast. You can take the train from midtown NYC directly to midtown Washington and avoid the long and tedious trips to the airports at both ends. The Acela service is reliable and frequent.

Brightline is definitely going to be a godsend for travel between Miami, Orlando and Tampa. I travel to Tampa and Miami quite frequently, and when in those cities, routinely use Uber/Lyft as opposed to driving my own vehicle, or my gf's car. I most certainly will use Brightline for pretty much all of my future trips between the three cities. No more fighting speed demons and state troopers on the Turnpike? No more driving on gridlocked I4 between Orlando and Tampa? A LOT of people are going to use Brightline for these trips. In this day and age, with the advent of Uber/Lyft, one doesn't NEED a car, even in more car-centric cities. And let's be frank here, if one is visiting either one of those cities, they are likely going to be staying somewhere central, and all three cities have decently-developed cores that do not particularly require a car for short visits. There is everything one needs in Downtown Miami/Brickell, Downtown Orlando/Eola, and Downtown Tampa/Channelside, for a 3-5 day visit.