Progress report scheduled on FEC rail passenger study

By Chuck McGinness
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Boynton Beach Mayor Jerry Taylor says it would be a tremendous boost to his city's downtown redevelopment program to have commuter trains that would drop out-of-town passengers within walking distance of new waterfront shops and attractions.

"Anytime you can get more intermodal transportation like that, it would be great," Taylor said. "And it would help relieve traffic on our roads."
 

A $6 million state study is under way to determine what it will take to return passenger rail service to the Florida East Coast Railway, which runs through 28 downtowns from Miami to Jupiter.

A public hearing will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday at the Kravis Center's Cohen Pavilion to discuss what progress has been made and where the study is headed.

Passenger service on the FEC — the Jacksonville-to-Miami railroad that Henry Flagler built more than a century ago — ended in the early 1970s. Today, the rail line carries the majority of freight moving through the tri-county area.

The FEC rejected the state's overtures to use its tracks when Tri-Rail was started in the late 1980s as a reliever for Interstate 95 construction. So the state bought a 71-mile section of the CSX Transportation corridor west of Interstate 95, which runs mainly through industrial areas.

Interest in bringing back passenger service to the FEC was sparked by downtown redevelopment projects in many of the cities along the corridor.

The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority wants to expand Tri-Rail service northward to Jupiter and eventually into Martin and St. Lucie counties along the FEC line. Another proposed expansion would run into southern Miami-Dade County and there is also a plan for a loop route through Fort Lauderdale.

The study of the 2-mile-wide corridor will look at other types of transit besides commuter rail, including limited-stop buses and a light rail system, and potential ridership.

The biggest question is what it will cost to buy 82 miles of track from the FEC. Estimates have put the cost at $500 million to $1 billion, but that does not include stations and other improvements.