Status of Florida High Speed Rail

[overall]

Has there been any movement on this since Jeb Busch obeyed his masters at the Highway Lobby and destroyed it? Those of you who are familier with this story know that he went to a whole lot of trouble to destroy this project. He did things for them that he would never do for conservative causes he says he supports.I wondered what Highway Lobby paid him. It must have been a lot of money with many zeros. I just hope he never has the oppurtunity to run for president.

 

George

[AntonioFP45]

Yes, I agree that the governor did a job in stopping high speed rail here but the idea is far from dead. 

Was he paid to do it??????  Very, very doubtful.    More than likely he was following the wishes of his constituents that helped elect him.  Though I didn't agree wtih some of his policies, Jeb did an overall good job during his tenure here. 

Don't forget that many Florida citizens did voice concerns about the costs involved.  While I felt that it would have been great, even people that I knew were against funding it.   IMHO, many people that were against funding it were very short sighted.  All one has to do is travel on I-95 or I-75 a few times and see how congested these superhighways can become.

The sad irony in all this is that during the 1960s, the ACL and SAL had excellent passenger service in Florida with some lines that supported 80mph running.  But the interstate system helped to kill that.

IMHO, it would be cheaper to use the idea of investing into double tracking and expanding the current rail lines, upgrading the trackwork to Class 5 or Class 6 and provide conventional train service that could run at 90 to 100 mph speeds.  

[GP40]

All one has to do is travel on I-95 or I-75 a few times and see how congested these superhighways can become.

The sad irony in all this is that during the 1960s, the ACL and SAL had excellent passenger service in Florida with some lines that supported 80mph running.  But the interstate system helped to kill that.

IMHO, it would be cheaper to use the idea of investing into double tracking and expanding the current rail lines, upgrading the trackwork to Class 5 or Class 6 and provide conventional train service that could run at 90 to 100 mph speeds. 

I agree that an incremental approach i think is the way to go in bring back rail passenger service  to the US.

You forgot to mention the prestrike FEC passsenger service. Speaking of FEC what is the proposals about redouble track the FEC mainline in order to reinstitute both intrastate(Jacksonville to Miami) the interstate passenger service??  

[AntonioFP45]

Thanks for mentioning that, GP40.

FEC still has a well maintained mainline worth bragging about.

I haven't seen anymore info about the proposals.  I know there's a lot of red tape involved.  I certainly hope that this does come to fruition.  With the property tax cut that was recently passed, municipalities in Florida are scrambling to cut back services. (actually, imho, they've been overspending for the past 5 years and now it's about to bite them)

I'd be really surprised if any type of funding for intrastate rail comes anytime soon, unless it's at the federal level via grants.  Governor Crist, so far, seems to be pretty open minded so hopefully passenger rail expansion will become a reality within the next few years.

As much as many of us "rag" on California, we must admit that intrastate passenger rail seems to be working there, inspite of the criticisms and Union Pacific's "hiccups" in train prioritizing.