Amtrak on FEC - When?

[The Davy Crockett]

According to this article in South Florida's Sun Sentinal, moving Amtrak service to the FEC has been stalled due to a lack of Federal funding for the project. The state set aside $118 million to help attract that funding, but it hasn't come, and according to the article:

...while the state money is still set aside, not all of it will go to this project, said Fred Wise, director of FDOT's Florida Rail Enterprise... ...FDOT, Amtrak and the FEC are still in discussions, Wise said. But they're just in the beginning process of discussing costs and how to share them.
"We have a lot of work to do," Wise said.

Further along in the article:

Wise said the state did not have any specific plans from Amtrak. Bob Ledoux, Florida East Coast Railway vice president, also said the railroad has not received any plans from Amtrak.

If this article is to be believed, it makes it sound like service on the FEC is still a ways off - if it happens at all.

 

[Notelvis]

Sounds as if Amtrak isn't eager to expand it's current operations in Florida either.

 

[xyzzy]

I believe Amtrak would do it in a heartbeat if Florida paid for all the construction. Relying on federal money (either Amtrak or non-Amtrak like ARRA) is a very uncertain game.

 

[jphjaxfl]

Right now Florida East Coast and All Aboard Florida are focused on getting the Miami - Orlando express passenger train service running. This is all being done with private funds and will serve the many tourists that travel between South Florida and Orlando. Amtrak's service to Florida has declined significantly since the beginning when Amtrak had 12 trains crossing the state daily in the off season and 14 trains in the peak winter season. Now only 4 trains cross the state daily. I agree Florida needs to provide funding for Amtrak much as California, Illinois, North Carolina and other states have done. If Miami-Orlando becomes reality with private funds, I doubt Amtrak on FEC will ever happen. If AAF is successful, i foresee a Jacksonville - Orlando and Jacksonville-South Florida operation being developed that may connect with Amtrak, but no through service.

 

[Anderson]

Just wondering, but when were there 14 trains? I know there was the Silver Meteor (2), the Silver Star (2), and the Champion (2) from NYP. From CHI there was the Floridian (2). The Auto-Train wasn't Amtrak until the 80s, though that would be (4) at its peak. The Vacationer was (2) in winter, but it was also not running by the time A-T hit (4).

 

[jphjaxfl]

Just wondering, but when were there 14 trains? I know there was the Silver Meteor (2), the Silver Star (2), and the Champion (2) from NYP. From CHI there was the Floridian (2). The Auto-Train wasn't Amtrak until the 80s, though that would be (4) at its peak. The Vacationer was (2) in winter, but it was also not running by the time A-T hit (4).

If you look at the Novermber, 1971 timetable on this site, there were 6 mainline trains between New York and Florida, the Silver Meteor to Miami (2), the Champion to Tampa, St Pete (2), the Silver Star with sections to Miami (2) and Tampa St Pete (2), the Southwind/Floridian originally also had sections to Miami (2) and Tampa, St Pete(2) and the winter only Florida Special ran much as is had for years with limited stops until it reached Florida and just went to Miami (2). Seaboard/Coastline still had a strong market here in Florida from the Northeast and the City of Miami still had a strong following from Chicago. Little by little, the market faded due to late trains, equipment that was not maintained as prior to Amtrak and service that did not match SCL. I traveled on the Florida trains in the winter a number of times in the early 1970s and the trains were packed in both sleepers and coaches. Hamburg Industries had meticuosly maintained SCL's equipment prior to Amtrak, but it was old with some of the streamlined cars dating to the late 1930s when the original Silver Meteor was launched. Both the S lines and the A lines had 2 trains each way each day all year with the winter only train taking a combination on the A line and S line with the switch at Auburndale.