Cities lobby to be stops on proposed rail route

By Chuck McGinness
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

DELRAY BEACH — A study on returning passenger trains to the Florida East Coast Railway has identified 53 possible station sites. None is in Delray Beach.

City officials urged state planners Monday to take a second look at putting a stop here.

"We do have a very successful downtown and a huge entertainment district," said Paul Dorling, the city's planning director. "There is a real need for a station in Delray Beach."

At Monday's workshop on plans to expand transit service in eastern Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, much of the discussion was about station locations. Lake Worth residents urged state officials to overlook the city's fumblings of late and consider the working-class residents who depend on mass transit for their livelihood.

At the north end of the line, Jupiter resident Judy Goldenberg said Jupiter Lakes Boulevard would be an ideal site because it's close to Jupiter Medical Center and businesses along Indiantown Road.

The study will determine the most efficient ways to move people and freight on the FEC tracks, the CSX Transportation tracks where Tri-Rail runs and parallel highways and roads.

One thing is fairly certain: Passenger trains on the FEC tracks will not duplicate Tri-Rail service.

"What we're trying to do is create a transportation system that works together with Tri-Rail," planner Tom Hickey said.

Planners are looking at smaller service areas that reflect commuting patterns around major employment centers. One segment, for example, runs between Tequesta and Boynton Beach, with downtown West Palm Beach as the prime destination.

But Boynton Beach resident Richard Shores said planners should not forget people who soon won't be able to afford to drive because of the high price of gas.

"You need to target a new market. That's me, me and my family," Shores said. "The goal should be to get me to leave my car behind and take mass transit."

In October, planners will present alternatives that warrant further study. Any new service is not expected to begin before 2012.

The study will be sent to the Federal Transit Administration with a request for funding assistance, but even getting half of the needed money from the federal agency would be optimistic.

Just the cost of buying or leasing an 85-mile piece of the FEC line could be $1 billion. Add the cost of building new tracks and stations and buying trains and buses, and the plan gets even more expensive.

During the workshop, residents from West Palm Beach and Jupiter again reiterated the need to spend money on improvements at rail crossing to silence train horns and build bridges over the tracks on major east-west roads so train traffic doesn't delay emergency vehicles.

Another workshop on the plan will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Palm Beach Gardens municipal complex.