Passenger Trains > Jacksonville - Miami?

Looking at today's schedule from Jacksonville to Miami it takes Amtrak 9 hours for this trip.  Hardly competitive if you were only traveling between those city pairs.  This includes padding which I assume if taken out, Amtrak could take an hour off the schedule.

Just curious what you think if Amtrak ran on the FEC RR from JAX-MIA after the rebuild for the Virgin trains how long would this trip take?  Always thinking about the possibilities of trains connecting in Jacksonville going south on the FEC or even if Amtrak ran all the way to MIA on the FEC about connections at Cocoa for Orlando/Tampa?  Florida is a "HUGE" market and the possibilities of interconnections and faster service is intriguing.

Just as information, the fastest FEC train in 1956 was the East Coast Champion.

Left Jacksonville at 8:20 AM.

Arrived Miami at 3:40 PM.

B&OBill

I remember as a kid riding the East Coast Champion southbound running 90 mph all night long until Jacksonville and couldn't sleep all night watching out the window. South of Jacksonville seems like it stopped at every town along US 1 all day long especially south of West Palm on the FEC. It definitely wasn't as fast as Tri Rail or Brite Line, those E's weren't made for fast take offs with 17 cars. Remember my elbows were sore from the arm rest after the Florida end but I would love to do it again one more time.

Amtrak opereating on the FEC has been brought up several timesthe past 25+ years by Amtrak and others.

It wouuld be a winner, but not sure powers to be want a winner.

mundo Wrote:
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> Amtrak opereating on the FEC has been brought up
> several timesthe past 25+ years by Amtrak and
> others.
>
> It wouuld be a winner, but not sure powers to be
> want a winner.

Agreed.  With BrightLine in the FEC corporate family, there's even less reason to allow Amtrak on the FEC.

FEC, Amtrak and the various Florida development agencies had decades to come to an agreement.  And did not.

FDOT, and I suppose the electorate here, would rather spend billions of dollars expanding highways. 

chrsjrcj Wrote:
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> FDOT, and I suppose the electorate here, would
> rather spend billions of dollars expanding
> highways. 

Yes.  Although the legislature is pretty expert in thwarting the will of the voters.  Referenda and Initiatives routinely find their way to the circular file...

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> mundo Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Amtrak opereating on the FEC has been brought
> up
> > several timesthe past 25+ years by Amtrak and
> > others.
> >
> > It wouuld be a winner, but not sure powers to
> be
> > want a winner.
>
> Agreed.  With BrightLine in the FEC corporate
> family, there's even less reason to allow Amtrak
> on the FEC.
>
> FEC, Amtrak and the various Florida development
> agencies had decades to come to an agreement. 
> And did not.

If Amtrak made a proposal to install some sidings on the FEC line to help alleviate traffic jams, everyone might look at the opportunity differently.  It is crazy that Amtrak is not serving the highly populated east coast of Florida.  Does anyone have an idea of where sidings should be added?

At various times, FEC/Brightline/Virgin officials have mentioned the possibility of service to Jacksonville as a future expansion.

An AMGAP in the  National System  any 10  year old  could  see!!  FEC  would  want some infrastructure  money.  Hay... we are  about  to spemd  Trillions!!!

The FEC transit time was 7 hours 20 minutes. You can drive it in 5 hours according to Google Maps.

FEC would be foolish to ALLOW Amtrak on its property, and FEC calls the shots.

chrsjrcj Wrote:
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> FDOT, and I suppose the electorate here, would
> rather spend billions of dollars expanding
> highways. 

Do you really think a couple of Amtraks a day on the FEC would make much of a difference in the need for expanded highways?  I drive I-95 a lot, it is pretty busy from Jacksonville to Daytona, where most people take a right turn on I-4 towards Orlando.  Daytona to around Vero Beach is pretty light traffic wise.  
 

In the 1948 OG, the Champion did Jax-Miami in 7 hrs 20 mins southbound and 7 hrs flat northbound.

Unless you're running six-coach trains every hour, you won't even make a dent in I-95 traffic aside from the dead spot around mentioned. . 

Once you get north of Jupiter in Palm Beach County, I-95 has relatively fast and light traffic.

As far north as 528 in Cocoa. Then light to Daytona.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Once you get north of Jupiter in Palm Beach
> County, I-95 has relatively fast and light
> traffic.
>
> As far north as 528 in Cocoa. Then light to
> Daytona.
>
> Posted from Android

That is why we have an accident every so often around Melbourne that shuts down all lanes in one direction on I-95 for a while transfering all traffic to local roads creating a headache for us. :( The problem is there are very few through N-S local roads in the area. Fortunately one new one just got added that should be more conveient for diverted I-95 traffic than jamming them through Melbourne on Wickham/Minton and Babcock through a zillion traffic lights that are not synchronized.

On a different but related subject, what traffic goes onto the FECR corridor is actually governed by both FECR and Brightline, with Brightline holding first right of refusal for all passenger traffic, and the company that controls day to day traffic flow - Florida Dispatching Company, is jointly and equally owned by FECR and Birghtline.

A rollover or lane change accident at 90-100 mph will cause some dents.

As long as you don't do stupid things, you are good to go.

Posted from Android