Proposed High Speed Rail Line (DEAD)

[Lakelander]

^ Here is a map showing the proposed station locations.


http://www.floridahighspeedrail.org/2c_phases.html

[TampaMike]

So they're still going with the state's High Speed Rail Committee plan?

[CubanBread]

How often will these things run, and how late? anyone know?

[HARTride 2012]

I would love to see trains running at least every 30 minutes, with 20 minute frequency during weekday rush hours. But maybe that is too much just to start. I don't know...

For the least part, the last trains should not depart any earlier than 9pm. 10pm would be better.

[tonyff67]

[/QUOTE]

It Seems to me that it would only make sense to run the extra 150 miles from Jacksonville to Orlando. The entire eastern seaboard would be connected by High speed rail. there is a lot of yankees that would use it to make a run to Fl. Even people from Atlanta would run down here for a couple of days with their kids to hit Orlando's parks

[tampasteve]

The fully extended FLHSRC (Florida High Speed Rail Corridor) does have the tracks extended to Jville - so it is in the plans. Several other plans that are in the works are also not shown on the map. For example the LA-Las Vegas line that may be maglev or another HSR line is not shown. I believe that they were just showing the lines that are identified for potential funding from the $8b stimulus funds.

Steve

[smiley]

For that amount of money you can see these trains running every 30 minutes around the country. . .

http://www.lionel.com/

Of course the Florida system includes Jacksonville, do you think Orlando airport wants to miss out on the Jacksonville passengers . .

[TPAMAN]

MAY 8, 2009, 11:41 A.M. ET California, Florida Top List to Secure High-Speed-Rail Funds Article
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By Christopher Conkey

WASHINGTON -- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood singled out California and Florida as leading candidates to secure federal funding for high-speed passenger-rail service.

"California and Florida are way ahead of the curve," Mr. LaHood said Friday at a breakfast gathering in Washington. He stressed that no final decisions have been made.

The Federal Railroad Administration, part of the Department of Transportation, will start awarding $8 billion in grants under the economic-stimulus program later this year to states with viable plans for building high-speed rail lines or upgrading existing passenger rail service. The Obama administration, in budget details released Thursday, said it wants to spend another $1 billion annually on high-speed rail over the next five years. Congress must approve the use of that $5 billion as part of its review of the fiscal 2010 budget.

Mr. LaHood said President Barack Obama "believes very deeply" that the U.S. should embark on a decades-long effort to establish a national network of high-speed passenger rail service, akin to the interstate-highway system launched by President Dwight D. Eisenhower more than five decades ago. The U.S. has to date spent more than $1 trillion to build and maintain the interstate highway system.

States and rail advocates are already jockeying to try and secure some of the federal transportation funding. Florida officials said they hoped to secure $1.5 billion to build rail service connecting Tampa and Orlando. California hopes to win significant funding for a planned, high-speed rail system with bullet trains traveling more than 200 miles an hour. The project, which would cost at least $30 billion, would initially link Los Angeles to San Francisco and later expand to San Diego and Sacramento. The state also hopes to secure grants to upgrade its existing network of intercity and commuter lines.

Mr. LaHood said "no one corridor is going to get all of this money" and that the DOT is "looking to create opportunities in every corridor that wants to make progress." Mr. LaHood has been meeting with many state and local officials to hear their arguments for securing passenger rail funding, including a meeting on Thursday with San Francisco mayor and California gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom.

Mr. Obama unveiled the administration's general approach to spending the $13 billion in transport funding last month. The Federal Rail Administration is expected to release more formal criteria for states to apply for funds in the weeks ahead. Still, Mr. LaHood said he had gained some early impressions through his meetings with state officials.

California is "way, way, way ahead," he said. As for the Midwest, where many officials are hoping to place Chicago at the center of a high-speed rail network stretching to St. Louis, Minneapolis, Cleveland and Detroit, Mr. LaHood said, "They're not in that position yet."

Mr. LaHood said he could envision funding "to get a little higher speed" for the Northeast corridor between Washington and Boston, which is the most popular passenger rail corridor in the country and the closest thing the nation has to European-style high-speed service. He also suggested funding could be used to "extend [that network] further up north to Vermont, Maine."

Write to Christopher Conkey at christopher.conkey@wsj.com

[tampasteve]

Sounds like Florida could really happen. If the money is to be split then it is almost (IMO) a no brainer to give 1.5b to Florida so that a line can be built.

Steve

[smiley]

AWESOME!!! a billion dollar train to nowhere!!! AWESOME!!!

[tampasteve]

AWESOME!!! a billion dollar train to nowhere!!! AWESOME!!!

[Jasonhouse]

Originally Posted by smiley

AWESOME!!! a billion dollar train to nowhere!!! AWESOME!!!

Something tells me that we would see some projects magically get underway locally if HSR linked us to Lakeland and Orlando. First off, Pinellas would HOWL bloody murder to be connected to it, as would TIA. I also bet we would see a local transit referendum pass, since there would be a perception of such a system actually having something to connect to. What business wouldn't want Orlando's tourists to have cheap, unfettered access to the Tampa area, regardless of traffic conditions? What local doesn't see the benefits at this point of spending a few hundred million of our own collective money over 30 years, if it triggers the state and the feds to dump billions into our flagging local economy now? I certainly wouldn't want to be the one running that 'Just say no' campaign.

[HARTride 2012]

Originally Posted by smiley

AWESOME!!! a billion dollar train to nowhere!!! AWESOME!!!

I often don't understand your views, but sure do not agree with them.

I think HSR will be another reason to get LRT going.

[smiley]

My view is pretty simple - I am a realist.

the train is a disney train - not real transit - not an urban development idea (it is sprawl machine, actually) - not really connective to anything. The reason it does not go to TIA is because OIA and Disney do not want it to and TIA is too wimpy to fight them. this plan is a multibillion dollar funnel for people to go to the Orlando area and make Orlando money - though not go to the city - bizarrely. I see no point in building something that has absolutely no utility for of Tampa Bay and people who live in here. This isn't Florida High Speed rail it is Disney high speed rail - let them build it.

I am all for high speed rail that is for people who actually live in Florida.

[HARTride 2012]

The only thing that will piss me off about HSR is if the west terminus ends up being the I-75/I-4 junction, which some are saying it is, and not DT Tampa. It makes sense for it to go to DT Tampa, the let the LRT take over from there until the HSR can be expanded into Pinellas/TIA.

[tampasteve]

I have heard that the FDOT plan had it at I-4/I-275, but everything i have heard recently, and the FLHSRA has proposed has it in DT Tampa. I would bank on DT rather than the apex, but who knows.

Steve

[smiley]

The only thing that will piss me off about HSR is if the west terminus ends up being the I-75/I-4 junction, which some are saying it is, and not DT Tampa. It makes sense for it to go to DT Tampa, the let the LRT take over from there until the HSR can be expanded into Pinellas/TIA.

Why do you accept second class status - that is how we get screwed all the time.

[HARTride 2012]

I'm saying that though the current HSR plan clearly isn't the best out there, its better than having the line dead end just outside Tampa, then shoot out to Disney & MCO.

[I-275westcoastfl]

If the HSR ends up as the first post on this page I don't see a problem with it. I may be in the minority but if the HSR isn't built I'd rather see the money go to highway upgrading and construction.

[Lakelander]

^I'd rather see the money funneled into better Amtrak service throughout the state. It would be cheaper and beneficial for more residents statewide.

Amtrak: True high-speed rail unrealistic, Amtrak boss says

Too expensive to build systems with trains going 200 m.p.h., Amtrak boss tells Illinois lawmakers

By Jon Hilkevitch | Tribune reporter
May 12, 2009

Introducing ultra-fast passenger trains to the Midwest is less important than the need for more frequent service between cities, reliable schedules that beat the time spent driving and rail connections that permit travel across the United States, Amtrak's chief official said Monday in Chicago.

True high-speed rail clipping along at 200 m.p.h. or faster would be prohibitively expensive to build on the scale needed to serve the U.S., and such systems work best only when the number of stops are limited, Joseph Boardman, president and chief executive officer of Amtrak, told Illinois lawmakers at a hearing in the Thompson Center on the passenger railroad's agenda.

"It's really not about the speed. It's about reduced travel times and more frequency," he told the Illinois House Railroad Industry Committee. "The competitive advantage is with the train."

Boardman said plans in the Midwest for trains traveling up to 110 m.p.h. on corridors stretching over nine states make more sense. He said the immediate focus must be on modernizing infrastructure to increase train speeds in the Chicago area that currently are as slow as 5 m.p.h. because of freight-train congestion and antiquated track and signaling equipment.

Getting up to even 40 m.p.h. on stretches between Chicago and cities less than 50 miles away, such as Joliet, would be a big improvement, Boardman said.

"One hundred and ten is double the national speed limit" of 55 m.p.h. on highways, noted Boardman, who was administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration during several years of the Bush administration.

"The key to going fast is to not go slow," added Tom Carper, chairman of the Amtrak board and a former mayor of the Downstate city of Macomb.

A proposed 3,000-mile high-speed rail network using Chicago as the hub is in the running for a share of $13 billion in federal investment over the next five years. The network, estimated to cost at least $8 billion to build, would serve major Midwestern cities from Chicago.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is expected to start awarding grants in September to develop high-speed corridors. About a dozen projects, including the Midwest initiative, are competing.

The idea in the Midwest is to operate comfortable trains with wide seats and large windows at 110 m.p.h. instead of the current top speed of 79 m.p.h. in most places, shaving hours off trips and delivering passengers from one downtown to another hundreds of miles away.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,1724722.story