I think it'd be a couple of years before you see AAF trains head that far up the coastline.

What I am interested in is what the new downtown Miami station will look like.

No doubt. I can see something being operational before 2020 though, assuming the initial line starts off well. The track and destinations are already in place. I'm interested in what they do in Miami, as well as Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. I want to see if any other rail companies consider jump starting similar operations tied to real estate development.

Crist needs to win in November, so that the state can then work out a deal with FEC for the I-4 ROW to Tampa.

One can't help but wonder how different the I-4 corridor would look today if Crist never left office early. It's entirely feasible the State could have ended up with that HSR line between Tampa and Orlando and AAF's project from Orlando to Miami.

Or FEC would be partnering with the HSR operator for a system linking Tampa, Orlando, Jax and Miami.

Regardless of who was running it, the line between Tampa and Orlando would definitely be UC like it was supposed to be, and the transit initiatives in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Polk would be looked at much differently.

I agree as well. I hope so. If Charlie Crist will win the election. He will return work for governor again. Rick Scott is not good governor. He has no experience at all. That's why he failed to do so. He canceled the HSR and etc. There is no reason to canceled it.

Hmmm, so Rick Scott is a rail buff now. Must be getting close to reelection time.....

The State is going to pay for the rail station at MCO. It will initially serve AAF but will be designed for a SunRail extension as well.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...0,892246.story

Oh gosh, Scott was so wrong for canceling the free high speed rail project, but at least this is a moderate step in the right direction.

Yeah, he is idiots. He can't do something for HSR and etc. Yes, he was very wrong for what he did. He lied to all Florida residents. He won't able work for governor ever again for life. He will eventually to loses. He will be fired. They will kicked him out of State Capital.

The funny thing is if that HSR project wasn't torpedoed, this $200 million station would have been funded without local or state tax dollars as a part of that $2 billion project.

^It's never about doing what's right by the general public. It's always about what's best for themselves.


Election year posturing.

At this point, both systems that would use the station are done deals, so really any governor who didn't pledge support for the project is being an asshole, just because he can.

Besides, the legislature will probably nix it anyways.

So true as evidenced by this map :

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ando_route.png

http://bettercities.net/sites/defaul...ilmap-full.jpg

If you look at the maps above Sunrail would have intersected with HSR in Orlando between the last 2 stops between the Orange County Convention center & the Airport.
But thanks to Rick Scott and his rejection of HSR as it stands now Sunrail and the All Aboard Florida trains won't meet at all. The closest Sunrail station to the Orlando Airport is about 5 miles away and as far as I know there isn't a CSX rail spur that turns east and heads to the Airport.

Could you imagine that Florida could have had a comprehensive rail system with HSR from Tampa to Orlando then connect with a AAF train down to Miami?
If there was a realistic way to recall and remove Governor Skeletor from office I would have signed a petition years ago. He really screwed us! :hell:

Even privately financed rail projects have opposition.....

http://www.floridanotallaboard.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Flori...216658&sk=info

NIMBY's suck. How selfish and short sighted can people possibly be?

All Aboard Florida has revealed a new site devoted to the project: http://www.allaboardflorida.com/

They have a E- newsletter for updates on the project: http://www.allaboardflorida.com/get-on-board/index.html

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http://www.allaboardflorida.com/images/banner4.jpg

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http://www.allaboardflorida.com/facts/index.html

AAF responds to opposition groups via launch of new website that shows off a rendering of the Miami Station:

http://www.allaboardflorida.com/files/nav/aboutus.jpg

http://www.allaboardflorida.com/

Wow, that's really high. If that's a train at the top, then top-of-rail must be 45' above the ground. At a grade of 2% for passenger rail, those tracks would have to start rising as soon as they crossed under 395.

I guess it has to be this high to clear the Metromover at 5th St, though. Usually urban viaducts are not that high. Ogilvie Station in Chicago has tracks at about 22' above street level. European cities are similar. Tokyo has some stations this high, though.

I'm glad AAF is planning an integrated retail development. The surrounding blocks here are filled with pretty impersonal office buildings and parking garages, narrow sidewalks and wide streets, so it's important that the station itself become a center for shopping/eating.

^I think I would have realigned the Metromover, rather than make the platform have to be so high.

AAF doesn't necessarily have that choice as a private company, and the two-level Metrorail/Metromover transfer is a key lynchpin of the Miami transit system.

Doing a high platform also allows for two levels of retail below the tracks; this is much cheaper/easier than putting retail above the tracks.

From an urban design standpoint, the tall station is just so massive. The design seems to be good so I don't have a problem with it - the transit hub of a major metropolis like SoFla should be huge to correspond with its importance.

Most of the opposition is based upon two issues,
train horns and accessibility.

Establishing quiet zones isn't cheap and local governments wish to see FEC pick up that additional cost. All the FEC is required to do by federal law is the sound the horn on the trains at intersections. It's up to local cities to ask the FRA, plan, fund, build, and maintain the infrastructure for the implementation of quiet zones. Being quiet and being safe are two different things.

Intermediate cities and counties not getting a station initially want one too. They feel they are being left out getting none of the advantages (benefits) while getting all of the disadvantages (troubles). That's true with just about every rail project, high speed or not, some cities are bypassed.

My take: If the intermediate cities want train services, they can always implement their own transit service to do so using their own resources, then contract with FEC to use their tracks and build train stations on their property. Put some of their own skin into the game. Privately ran railroads will always cherry pick what services they will be willing to provide to maximize profits. A good place to start implementing a transit agency is by assuming the costs for implementing quiet zones establishing a working relationship with the private railroad company. If the intermediate cities aren't willing to accept the costs of implementing quiet zones, what creditability will they establish creating a transit agency?