Today's news wire states Amtrak thinks FEC Jacksonville - West Palm Beach first to get expanded Amtrak service. This would be a split at Jacksonville of the Silver Star. The Amtrak PRIIA report on Silver service states that the FEC route at the present is not Capable.
I have not found any statement on any Amtrak sites stating such service could start. Does anyone have other information to the contrary ?
The "PRIIA Section 210 Report for FY 2011" reads, in part,
"Amtrak evaluated several alternatives for extending or routing existing Silver Service trains over the Florida East Coast...
"Operation of a section of the Silver Star over the FEC is not included in the plan because it cannot be implemented at this time...
"However, the State of Florida’s current capital budget includes funding for investments to restore passenger rail service on the FEC route."
Translation: the state has money set aside. Amtrak wants that money. Amtrak will dangle carrots in the press until they get that money.
We went through all this before with the Sunset Limited. Burn me once shame on you. Burn me twice...
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
The old-timers among us will enjoy the irony of reinstating passenger service on FEC, where almost all passenger service was discontinued in 1961 due to a strike.
Correction, Paul; it was in 1963 that the FEC was struck.
In 1967, I rode the FEC train from West Palm Beach to Jacksonville, and planned to ride the Champion to Washington. We were held up by a red block at the junction just below St. Augustine (apparently the work of a union man) so I missed the Champion and had to take the Silver Star instead.
Johnny
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