Train to Port Canaveral possible

PeterAlt

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
For those who haven't been following, an FEC subsidiary called All Aboard Florida, over the past couple of years, has been actively planning a private high speed passenger train starting from downtown Miami, stopping at downtown Ft. Lauderdale, downtown West Palm Beach, following the old FEC tracks up through the east coast to Coco Beach, then (using brand new tracks) along the Bee Line Expressway, and ending at a new multimodal station at Orlando International Airport. The rights of way have been finalized, the Miami station is about to start construction, and all signs are good that the privately financed $1.5 billion system is actually going to happen.

So, I was just thinking. If Disney wants to connect their cruise business with WDW, the tracks will have already been laid down from OIA to near the port. If they could partner to get those tacks to WDW from the airport, imagine the possibilities...
 

Tim_4

Well-Known Member
For those who haven't been following, an FEC subsidiary called All Aboard Florida, over the past couple of years, has been actively planning a private high speed passenger train starting from downtown Miami, stopping at downtown Ft. Lauderdale, downtown West Palm Beach, following the old FEC tracks up through the east coast to Coco Beach, then (using brand new tracks) along the Bee Line Expressway, and ending at a new multimodal station at Orlando International Airport. The rights of way have been finalized, the Miami station is about to start construction, and all signs are good that the privately financed $1.5 billion system is actually going to happen.

So, I was just thinking. If Disney wants to connect their cruise business with WDW, the tracks will have already been laid down from OIA to near the port. If they could partner to get those tacks to WDW from the airport, imagine the possibilities...
What "possibilities" are we imagining? A one hour bus ride new becomes a one hour train ride? Be still my heart.
 

wm49rs

A naughty bit o' crumpet
Premium Member
So, I was just thinking. If Disney wants to connect their cruise business with WDW, the tracks will have already been laid down from OIA to near the port. If they could partner to get those tacks to WDW from the airport, imagine the possibilities...

If you were truly thinking you'd understand that Disney already connects it's cruise business with WDW.....
 

Tonka's Skipper

Well-Known Member
Interesting responses, rude, unthinking and just mindless persons taking shots, because they had nothing of merit to add.

Peter offered a good bit of news, that is factual, however not a fully done deal yet. The last I read about this a year ago or so, was that it will be high speed. Meaning it would be about 20 minutes or so the airport and may even be adding WDW as a stop. High speed rail would also add Tampa and Melbourne as a possible alternative airport and maybe bring the air rates down some.

If it WDW was added, it may be a station where folks could board a new style light rail, pod or Monorail system. No none of the WDW is fact or announced as yet, but all of these options are a possibility.

AKK
 

Mammymouse

Well-Known Member
Interesting responses, rude, unthinking and just mindless persons taking shots, because they had nothing of merit to add.

Peter offered a good bit of news, that is factual, however not a fully done deal yet. The last I read about this a year ago or so, was that it will be high speed. Meaning it would be about 20 minutes or so the airport and may even be adding WDW as a stop. High speed rail would also add Tampa and Melbourne as a possible alternative airport and maybe bring the air rates down some.

If it WDW was added, it may be a station where folks could board a new style light rail, pod or Monorail system. No none of the WDW is fact or announced as yet, but all of these options are a possibility.

AKK

The last I heard I thought the Tampa/Orlando high speed rail was dead and it was not a private endeavor but government subsidies.
 

NowInc

Well-Known Member
I know a lot of us here in Fort Lauderdale are VERY excited about this. Currently its about a 3 hour drive to WDW from here, which while is really not bad at all, it would be nicer to just sit back for a 3rd of that amount..especially with the rumored costs of a trip being less than what the current toll charges are.
 

wm49rs

A naughty bit o' crumpet
Premium Member
Interesting responses, rude, unthinking and just mindless persons taking shots, because they had nothing of merit to add.

Peter offered a good bit of news, that is factual, however not a fully done deal yet. The last I read about this a year ago or so, was that it will be high speed. Meaning it would be about 20 minutes or so the airport and may even be adding WDW as a stop. High speed rail would also add Tampa and Melbourne as a possible alternative airport and maybe bring the air rates down some.

If it WDW was added, it may be a station where folks could board a new style light rail, pod or Monorail system. No none of the WDW is fact or announced as yet, but all of these options are a possibility.

AKK

Or, it's just more supposition and Imagineering to feed an obsession.....
 

PeterAlt

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What "possibilities" are we imagining? A one hour bus ride new becomes a one hour train ride? Be still my heart.
The train will run 120 MPH from OIA to the coast. It is now theoretically possible to build a direct high speed line from EC. An elevated maglev is already being planned from AAF's OIA station to the Florida Mall, Orange County Convention Center, and just outside WDW.
 

wm49rs

A naughty bit o' crumpet
Premium Member
Your fear mongering is not needed.

Fear mongering in what manner? Much of this project is still up in the air, with FECI having already pushed back the start date to 2015. And there's nothing that says Disney will get in on the project either....
 

wm49rs

A naughty bit o' crumpet
Premium Member
The train will run 120 MPH from OIA to the coast. It is now theoretically possible to build a direct high speed line from EC. An elevated maglev is already being planned from AAF's OIA station to the Florida Mall, Orange County Convention Center, and just outside WDW.

Do you have a link to these plans?
 

PeterAlt

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The last I heard I thought the Tampa/Orlando high speed rail was dead and it was not a private endeavor but government subsidies.
Yes, that was a state system. That is dead because Gov. Scott gave the Feds back the billions of dollars they gave the state to build it. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a privately owned system called All Aboard Florida that is spending their own money to build, own, and operate their own high speed train.

See http://www.allaboardflorida.com/
 

Tim_4

Well-Known Member
Or, it's just more supposition and Imagineering to feed an obsession.....
Agree. There was no rumor or news here. It's just a "what if?" or "wouldn't it be nice?"
I know a lot of us here in Fort Lauderdale are VERY excited about this. Currently its about a 3 hour drive to WDW from here, which while is really not bad at all, it would be nicer to just sit back for a 3rd of that amount..especially with the rumored costs of a trip being less than what the current toll charges are.
You're nuts if you think you'd save any time on a train from Ft Lauderdale. It might be one hour of "moving train" time, but don't forget driving to and from the train station, parking, sitting there waiting for it to go, then getting from wherever it dumps you out to your ACTUAL destination. Rail is a horribly inefficient way to move anything besides heavy cargo because it's utterly inflexible. You can get from A to B (station to station) easily but it's a major project to get from "kind of near A" to "15 minutes from B." Regardless, Florida is a poor candidate for passenger rail because it's not big enough to take advantage of the whole high speed thing. You can get from Tampa to Cocoa by car in two hours driving so the train is useless. If it were going to work it would have to be something like Boston to LA via New York and Chicago. And at that point just fly.
 

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
The last I heard I thought the Tampa/Orlando high speed rail was dead and it was not a private endeavor but government subsidies.
The privatized version, All Aboard Florida, still seems to be limping along. I doubt much will come from it though as there are just so many hurdles to overcome when it comes to HS rail in the US. Running a rail line between points A and B is not that hard. The biggest problem is if it is not faster or cheaper than driving very few will use it. Then there is the issue of what do you do when you get to your destination. An auto train is nice, but you still have to satisfy the faster or cheaper criteria. So few places have the population density to make a public transit both work and be affordable. You can connect hubs, but servicing the urban sprawl is near impossible to do with any kind of a realistic budget. Just a quick example from here in Jacksonville Fl. My drive to work it 15-20 minutes and round trip will cost me about $4 max. For me to do the same trip on a bus, my travel time is around 2 hours and the cost is about $3. Tack all that on to a train ride that is about the same as driving and the "faster" element is shot.

The only way I see it working is if construction would be subsidized by the government and the stops will need to be tourist destinations with connections provided by the hotels. Even that is a huge long shot.
 

wm49rs

A naughty bit o' crumpet
Premium Member
Yes, that was a state system. That is dead because Gov. Scott gave the Feds back the billions of dollars they gave the state to build it. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a privately owned system called All Aboard Florida that is spending their own money to build, own, and operate their own high speed train.

See http://www.allaboardflorida.com/

Or there's this link, which is less of a propaganda site:

http://www.myfortlauderdale.org/2013/03/all-aboard-florida-miami-orlando-high.html
 

wm49rs

A naughty bit o' crumpet
Premium Member
Yes, see http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1551430&page=4

This BB has an active discussion about it, news, links, and scroll down for a great video with the company's president (a former Disney executive ) where he specifically mentions 120 MPH!

"Managers of the project to operate a premium Miami-Orlando passenger train service say they are close to putting out bids to design the railroad corridor stretching from downtown Miami to the Orlando International Airport."

To design, not start construction.

And then there was this:

"Originally announced in March 2012, All Aboard Florida is expected to launch by the end of 2015, Cumber told commission members that the project is on track. Sixteen daily trains would leave from each of the two terminus stations, at Orlando International Airport and downtown Miami, between early morning and the evening with intermediate stations in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Trains would take about three hours to complete each one-way trip."
 

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