All Aboard Florida, as the project is called, is expected to begin operations in two stages: the first between Miami and West Palm Beach in 2016 and the second between West Palm Beach and Orlando in 2017.
Once the train enters service, it will travel the 235-mile route between Miami and Orlando – with stops in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach – at an average speed of 78.3 miles per hour. The maximum speed will be 125 miles per hour. It is not a bullet or high-speed train like France’s Tren à Grande Vitesse (TGV) that resembles a rocket on rails. But the All Aboard Florida train will nonetheless be a fast train of new technology, said Mike Reininger, president and director of project development for All Aboard Florida.
Light Rail Details from Miami to Orlando
In a recent interview at his office in Coral Gables, Reininger said the company has selected the type of train that will operate the Miami-Orlando route, but declined to disclose details.
“But we can allude to this by saying that it’s certainly going to be a modern train, which will have the most advanced technology of its kind,” Reininger said. “It’s going to be American-made and will feature the newest and highest emissions standards built into the technology of the train itself.”
Once the train is operating, it will be the first time since the 1960s that a passenger train will offer service along Florida’s eastern coast — a route initially established by railroad pioneer Henry Flagler in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Flagler Railroad, which stretched into Key West, eventually came to be known as the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC), which is now part of Florida East Coast Industries (FECI), the company developing the All Aboard Florida project. The last time a regular passenger train operated on the tracks along Florida’s east coast was in 1968.
The tracks are still there, but are now mostly used by freight trains. On May 29, 2010, Amtrak operated a special passenger train on the Miami to Jacksonville buses as part of a demonstration that passenger service is feasible. But it wasn’t until two years ago that FECI, the real estate and transportation company in Coral Gables, announced All Aboard Florida.
Reininger recently provided new details of the project during the hour-long interview.
He pointed out that the first step in the construction of the project was the arrival of the new rails to Boca Raton.
“We are at a very important and exciting time,” Reininger said. “The focus of the project is no longer planning, but execution.”
When does it start operations?
He also explained why the start of service was delayed from the original date of 2014 Among the reasons, he said, was the fact that negotiations to lease properties between Cocoa and Orlando that FECI does not own but needs to complete the train track took longer than expected. All these issues have been resolved, he said.
Reininger also addressed a number of controversies that have arisen after opponents of the bill stepped up their criticism of the proposal.
Perhaps the biggest controversy is whether Gov. Rick Scott’s administration is secretly helping All Aboard Florida by funding infrastructure that will benefit the project. Critics cite the $214 million statewide construction of a massive transportation hub next to Orlando International Airport — where All Aboard Florida will have a station — as evidence to support their claim.
“That’s not true,” Reininger said. “Long before All Aboard Florida existed, there was a long-term need for the expansion of Orlando International Airport.”
In other words, Reininger said, the state was going to build the transportation hub even if All Aboard Florida didn’t exist. The center will be built to house different modes of transportation and All Aboard Florida will be just one of several services there. The center is similar to the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) that is being built next to Miami International Airport (MIA).
Another allegation related to state funding stems from the state legislature’s approval earlier this year of $10 million for safety improvements to railroad crossings. The improvements will allow All Aboard Florida trains not to blow their whistles as they approach crosses. Municipalities can apply for funds under the new law while All Aboard Florida will receive none of the money.
“All railroads are required by federal law to blow their whistles when approaching crossings to warn the public that the train is approaching,” Reininger said. “The only way to avoid the need for the whistle is by this process of crossing safety improvements.”
Another criticism is whether All Aboard Florida receives preferential treatment from the state government given that Governor Scott’s chief of staff, Adam Hollingsworth, previously worked for Florida East Coast Industries (FECI). All Aboard Florida denied any connection between Hollingsworth’s previous position and the project.
“At the time Adam started working for FECI, All Aboard Florida did not exist,” the firm said in a statement after the newspaperTampa Bay Times suggested in an editorial that Hollingsworth’s relationship with Scott gave the railroad project privileged access to state administration decisions.
Hollingsworth left FECI to join Scott’s administration in 2012, the year All Aboard Florida was initially announced.
“FECI was taken by surprise and expressed disappointment when [Hollingsworth] he informed the company of his decision to step down, as he had been at his job for only nine months,” according to the All Aboard Florida statement. “Upon entering the Governor’s administration, Adam excused himself from all matters related to All Aboard Florida and, indeed, any matter related to FECI.”
https://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/sur-de-la-florida/article2038927.html