(The following story by Larry Hannan appeared on The Florida Times-Union website on October 25.)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It’s a little early to get nostalgic for 2001, but Amtrak officials have begun talking about turning back the clock and taking a second crack at a passenger train route from Jacksonville to Miami.
Amtrak offers passenger service from Jacksonville to Miami on its Silver Star and Silver Meteor trains, but the Silver Meteor takes nine hours and goes to Orlando, while the Silver Star takes almost 11 hours and goes to Tampa on tracks owned by CSX.
Using the Florida East Coast tracks would create a quicker route down the east coast of Florida while also allowing stops in cities like St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Fort Pierce, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.
Speaking at a meeting of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority Commuter Rail Task Force last week, Jay McArthur, officer for state contracts with Amtrak, said the government-subsidized rail company wants to offer commuter rail on the Florida East Coast rail lines that parallel Interstate 95 from Jacksonville to Miami.
“Amtrak thinks the corridor between Jacksonville and Miami is very viable,” McArthur said. “The Southeast is one of the most underserved regions in the country when it comes to rail, and Amtrak wants to change that situation.”
The federal government recently authorized a new bill that will give Amtrak $15 billion over five years. Increased interest in rail has led Amtrak to consider expanding services.
The rail company set a record for number of riders in 2007 with 25.8 million.
A Miami-Jacksonville route would require a partnership among Amtrak, the Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida East Coast Railway. It also would require millions of dollars, although the cost is unknown.
Officials with Amtrak and the transportation department both expressed interest in the project but said the other government entity would have to take the lead to get the project done.
While Amtrak wants to pursue this route, it won’t do it unless the state supports it and partners with Amtrak by putting state funds into the route.
Florida hasn’t done that yet, McArthur said.
Nazih Haddad, manager for passenger rail development at the Florida Department of Transportation, said the state remains interested in rail service on Florida East Coast lines, but there has been no recent discussion on the issue.
Amtrak previously discussed the possibility of using the lines in 2001-02. But that plan fell apart because Amtrak was having financial problems and the state was unwilling to allocate as much money to the project as Amtrak wanted.
Passenger service on the Florida East Coast lines occurred until 1968. The Florida East Coast Railway, founded in the late 19th century by Henry Flagler, ended service that year during a labor dispute.
Florida East Coast officials are aware of Amtrak’s renewed interest but said there have been no substantial discussions about offering service.
There would need to be some rail improvements made to the existing lines before Amtrak could offer service, said Scott Williams, general counsel for Florida East Coast.
Those improvements would allow Florida East Coast Railway to continue shipping freight on the lines while Amtrak also operated.
That would guarantee passenger and freight rail could both use the tracks without delays.
It would also be essential that the state partner with Amtrak, said Ken Charron, commercial counsel for Florida East Coast and the company’s representative with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. They are not aware of any effort to do that, he said.