Rumor Higher Speed Rail from MCO to Disney World

[Lilofan]

I hope that this happens. Walt loved trains. Transportation always seemed to go along with Disney. WDW has a monorail and a Skyliner. That would be great if they announced a new station at Disney Springs. I never expect to hear them announce new monorails. But to have a train stop at DS would be fantastic. Heck, some of the backstory is DS had to do with trains. This needs to happen.

Would one like it to happen In their back yard literally ?

 

[The Mom]

Would one like it to happen In their back yard literally ?

Would it be worse than the high speed, high traffic, noisy toll road that is already there in their backyard? At least the trains would only pass every hour, rather than constant freeway noise.

It would be some additional noise, and would be filling an already unusable space.

 

[trainplane3]

Would it be worse than the high speed, high traffic, noisy toll road that is already there in their backyard? At least the trains would only pass every hour, rather than constant freeway noise.

It would be some additional noise, and would be filling an already unusable space.

For real. This is such a non-issue. Highway noise is much worse then train noise. You probably won't even notice the train going by since it's built right next to a highway. And this isn't even a freight line, the kind of trains that are slower and louder then passenger rail. Still probably wouldn't even notice it go by if it were freight.

 

[Big_Shakalaka]

The love of light rail from the airport to theme park hotels is ubiquitous.

Wait ... is "ubiquitous" the right term for "in all cases?" You know how I mix up my words sometimes.

OH! This is my mistake, I'm not an Orlando native, I completely missed that Brightline is regular rail while SunRail is light rail. Connecting the airport to the various theme parks and convention center via SunRail is a great idea.

 

[Brian]

Would it be worse than the high speed, high traffic, noisy toll road that is already there in their backyard? At least the trains would only pass every hour, rather than constant freeway noise.

It would be some additional noise, and would be filling an already unusable space.

The additional noise is an unfortunate consequence of the seemingly unchecked construction of subdivision after subdivision in the region without any regard for the cars that will come with it, leading to horrendous, all day traffic on the major roads, including to/from WDW. If they can get this corridor up and running, and extend it south to Haines City and Lakeland, there may very well be appreciable improvements in the vehicular traffic on a day to day basis.

 

[lazyboy97o]

OH! This is my mistake, I'm not an Orlando native, I completely missed that Brightline is regular rail while SunRail is light rail. Connecting the airport to the various theme parks and convention center via SunRail is a great idea.

Brightline is higher speed (which is slower than high speed) intercity passenger rail.

SunRail is commuter rail. It is a heavy rail system, not a light rail system.

The Sunshine Corridor is a plan to provide SunRail and Brightline service from the airport to existing SunRail tracks (smallest plan) or all the way out to the Disney area (largest plan) on shared tracks. Brightline would then continue southwest to Tampa on its own tracks along I-4.

 

[MisterPenguin]

It seems to me that a train system carrying hundreds to thousands of people per day along a hiway route means that there will be hundreds to thousands less cars on that route. Less overall noise. Less pollution.

I guess NIMBYists are more concerned about occasional extra noise than the long term effects of gas-powered pollution on their children.

I am not a medical scientist, but I think I know enough to clearly point out one of those outcomes is significantly worse than the other.

 

[Big_Shakalaka]

Brightline is higher speed (which is slower than high speed) intercity passenger rail.

SunRail is commuter rail. It is a heavy rail system, not a light rail system.

The Sunshine Corridor is a plan to provide SunRail and Brightline service from the airport to existing SunRail tracks (smallest plan) or all the way out to the Disney area (largest plan) on shared tracks. Brightline would then continue southwest to Tampa on its own tracks along I-4.

ah ok. thank you for the clarification.

 

[flyerjab]

Would one like it to happen In their back yard literally ?

I have had a train track run literally in back of my back yard. After a while you don’t even notice it.

 

[Andrew25]

As someone who lives right on I4 and uses the 417 weekly, anything to reduce congestion is much appreciated and a far greater concern than noise.

However, I believe the Universal/Convention Center/528 alignment will do much greater good to the area than just a straight route to WDW and on to (eventually) Tampa.

 

[LAKid53]

Brightline is higher speed (which is slower than high speed) intercity passenger rail.

SunRail is commuter rail. It is a heavy rail system, not a light rail system.

The Sunshine Corridor is a plan to provide SunRail and Brightline service from the airport to existing SunRail tracks (smallest plan) or all the way out to the Disney area (largest plan) on shared tracks. Brightline would then continue southwest to Tampa on its own tracks along I-4.

Universal has already said it will provide land for a station, along with other incentives. The issue right now is the $4B price for the Sunshine Corridor.

 

[LAKid53]

As someone who lives right on I4 and uses the 417 weekly, anything to reduce congestion is much appreciated and a far greater concern than noise.

However, I believe the Universal/Convention Center/528 alignment will do much greater good to the area than just a straight route to WDW and on to (eventually) Tampa.

Not sure how much more FLDOT can widen I-4 to handle the ever increasing traffic. And the Turnpike needs widening north to I-75 beyond the current project.

 

[LAKid53]

Brightline was already working with FDOT and they will still have to work with FDOT along FL-528 and I-4.

The Hunters Creek residents were the epitome of nonsense NIMBYism. They live next to a highway. A modern higher speed train wasn’t going to drastically change their acoustic environment.

I can't imagine living next to the nightmare that is I-4...

 

[Andrew25]

Universal has already said it will provide land for a station, along with other incentives. The issue right now is the $4B price for the Sunshine Corridor.

Yeah, they're more than willing to support the project. They understandably want it to stop at their resort along with the other nearby resorts.

WDW has 30K rooms resort wide... but between UOR and the resorts adjacent to the convention center, there is probably far more people to service there.

Not sure how much more FLDOT can widen I-4 to handle the ever increasing traffic. And the Turnpike needs widening north to I-75 beyond the current project.

They just started a few months back with a widening project that will accommodate 4-5 lanes each way, 4 express lanes (2 each way) and access for Brightline. In addition to new and improved exits.

I can't imagine living next to the nightmare that is I-4...

You have no idea. What's bothersome is that all they need to do is alleviate/adjust some of the exit ramps to avoid backups and most of the problems will be solved.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Universal has already said it will provide land for a station, along with other incentives. The issue right now is the $4B price for the Sunshine Corridor.

Acknowledging that these costs are always wildly optimistic, Universal almost single-handedly quadrupled the estimated cost of the project and far beyond what they will be contributing. We’ve gone from $1 billion for the FL-417 alignment vs $2 billion for the FL-528 FL HSR alignment to now $4 billion for the Sunshine Corridor.

 

[LAKid53]

Yeah, they're more than willing to support the project. They understandably want it to stop at their resort along with the other nearby resorts.

WDW has 30K rooms resort wide... but between UOR and the resorts adjacent to the convention center, there is probably far more people to service there.

Wouldn't it be nice if the incentives Universal mentioned included contributing to the cost of extending the line to their resort and building a station?

They just started a few months back with a widening project that will accommodate 4-5 lanes each way, 4 express lanes (2 each way) and access for Brightline. In addition to new and improved exits.

And I'm sure those 8-10 total lanes will still be bumper to bumper....

You have no idea. What's bothersome is that all they need to do is alleviate/adjust some of the exit ramps to avoid backups and most of the problems will be solved.

I'm in Horizons West. I'm so glad there's now a Costco in Clermont so I don't have to travel to the one near Millennia, which means 429 to the Turnpike to I-4. Just to get a roasted chicken for $4.99.

 

[LAKid53]

Acknowledging that these costs are always wildly optimistic, Universal almost single-handedly quadrupled the estimated cost of the project and far beyond what they will be contributing. We’ve gone from $1 billion for the FL-417 alignment vs $2 billion for the FL-528 FL HSR alignment to now $4 billion for the Sunshine Corridor.

As I mentioned in my response to Andrew, perhaps Universal should pick up part of the cost increase related to its desire for rail service to its resort.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

As I mentioned in my response to Andrew, perhaps Universal should pick up part of the cost increase related to its desire for rail service to its resort.

It also needs to have remained a separate project - I’m all for sun rail linking the airport and convention center etc. - but that’s a totally different goal than Brightline wanting to link Orlando and Tampa.

 

[LAKid53]

It also needs to have remained a separate project - I’m all for sun rail linking the airport and convention center etc. - but that’s a totally different goal than Brightline wanting to link Orlando and Tampa.

Brightline received a $15.7M federal grant to begin the process.

 

[Twirlnhurl]

Acknowledging that these costs are always wildly optimistic, Universal almost single-handedly quadrupled the estimated cost of the project and far beyond what they will be contributing. We’ve gone from $1 billion for the FL-417 alignment vs $2 billion for the FL-528 FL HSR alignment to now $4 billion for the Sunshine Corridor.

I would caution you that the 417 route estimate is likely low by a similar amount. Construction cost inflation has been extremely high over the past few years. The 417 route is almost certainly still cheaper than the Sunshine Corridor, but not 1/4 the price.