Rumor Higher Speed Rail from MCO to Disney World

lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
joelkfla said:
SR-528 has not been completely ruled out, and is still being pushed by one of the CFX Board members.
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I loved that. “I want you to serve more people but I also want a ransom for you doing what I want.” I understand tolls are how CFX is funded but it is also a clear conflict of interest for them to support anything other than highways.
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Disone said:
Nope. They ARE interested in a stop at Disney between orlando and Tampa. It was their idea to repitch this plan.

They are not interested in becoming local transit for orlando with stops at Disney / OCCC / and possibly Univeral.
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Of course they're interested; they wouldn't be building one otherwise. I don't think they're especially interested in running a shuttle service between MCO and Disney, though -- that feels like a byproduct of having stops at both places rather than something they're actively seeking.

As I said, they'll happily take your money to do so, but it doesn't seem like they're planning to alter their service in any way to maximize that offering.
 
Twirlnhurl

Twirlnhurl

Well-Known Member
With regard to the noise and safety concerns, both of those are misguided or trivial.

The noise of a grade separated diesel trail is approximately equal to the noise of a semi truck and dramatically quieter than motorcycles. A passenger railroad with concrete bridges is a far better neighbor than an expressway, it's really no contest.

Regarding the safety of pedestrians, again the new railroad line will predominantly be grade separated. So anyone who has chosen to trespass in such an obviously dangerous place will be responsible for dealing with the consequences of their actions. Besides, it's not like Orlando's rubber tire transportation system has a good record for pedestrian safety. I believe Orlando is constantly in the top five most dangerous cities for pedestrians. Compared to Orange Blossom Trail, East Colonial Drive, and some of the other pedestrian fatality hotspots, this new rail right of way will be very safe.

I am personally rooting for the 417 alignment, because I am excited about the prospect of a SunRail service between Disney and the Deseret Ranch (east of Lake Nona, via MCO and the new Brightline alignment) as shown on some of the Brightline presentation materials. A premium transit service to Universal and the convention center would be cool too, but I am not sure that Brightline is the best way to do it.
 
B

Bob Harlem

Well-Known Member
An important milestone on the rail starts tomorrow night the rare box jacking installation of a new tunnel under the Beach Line/528 near US-1 in Cocoa. Which is where they slide a prefab tunnel under 528, they've already have everything prepped. Whole thing should take about 2 weeks.

 
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M

maxairmike

Well-Known Member
joelkfla said:
Here's the video record of the CFX board meeting with the Brightline presentation:
The Brightline presentation starts at 6:00.

The Brightline VP stated quite strongly that they are intercity rail, not local rail, that they will have hourly service, and that they are not suited for local transit. He said that one proposal cannot meet all the transportation needs of the community. Sounds like Brightline is not interested in shuttling people between MCO & WDW.

The route along SR-417 is the "preferred alignment," but the alternate alignment along SR-528 has not been completely ruled out, and is still being pushed by one of the CFX Board members. Brightline's estimate is that the 528 alignment would be double the cost of the 417 alignment, a difference of more than $1 billion. He said they would require a source of outside (government) funding to make it viable.

The segment to Disney is in the 15-30% design phase, and will be built next (if all approvals are obtained), with service expected in the latter half of 2026, as stated earlier. The rest of the route to Tampa is still in the early design stage, and will not be in service until at least 2028 or 2029.
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Thanks for these links. Seems I'm always a few days ahead wondering where the next official update is to when they actually come out.

I'm a little surprised by the alignment proposal after Meadow Woods to reach 417 at first glance, but it does avoid having to deal with traversing/modifying the newly completed Turnpike interchange for both parties.

I don't see the 528 alignment getting any real traction, as much as I would personally like to see an OCCC area station (think it would help to drive some locally beneficial transit improvements in the I-Drive area and take even more vehicles off the roads), given just how much private property that alignment has to deal with, and it needing to be elevated (and much higher than I'm sure they'd prefer for certain crossings) for pretty much the entire stretch. I didn't realize the extent of private property interfacing for that stretch before, since I had always just figured it would run back north out of the airport to follow 528 the whole way to I-4. It wasn't until Brightline that I started to really look into the route specifics.

Now to go read and watch the whole thing.
 
Disone

Disone

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
Of course they're interested; they wouldn't be building one otherwise. I don't think they're especially interested in running a shuttle service between MCO and Disney, though -- that feels like a byproduct of having stops at both places rather than something they're actively seeking.

As I said, they'll happily take your money to do so, but it doesn't seem like they're planning to alter their service in any way to maximize that offering.
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Pretty sure they were already planning the Disney extention prior to bidding On the I-4 corridor extension to Tampa. The Disney extension was planned before tampa was in play again.
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Disone said:
Pretty sure they were already planning the Disney extention prior to bidding On the I-4 corridor extension to Tampa. The Disney extension was planned before tampa was in play again.
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Which was mainly about getting people from south Florida to Disney, not about shuttling people between Disney and MCO.

Again, I'm not saying they don't want that business. They will be happy to have it. But if their actual main goal was to shuttle a bunch of people between Disney and the airport their plans would almost certainly be different from what they've announced.
 
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lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
Which was mainly about getting people from south Florida to Disney, not about shuttling people between Disney and MCO.

Again, I'm not saying they don't want that business. They will be happy to have it. But if their actual main goal was to shuttle a bunch of people between Disney and the airport their plans would almost certainly be different from what they've announced.
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And as we’re seeing based on the people they have to pay off, they’d be in a heap of trouble if they were secretly trying to start a shuttle.
 
TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Ideally....

Disney would be working with Brightline to create a dedicated Disney to MCO shuttle. I’m talking about departing every 20 minutes kind of shuttle.

The entire line between MCO and Disney will be double track correct?
 
J

joelkfla

Well-Known Member
TrainChasers said:
Ideally....

Disney would be working with Brightline to create a dedicated Disney to MCO shuttle. I’m talking about departing every 20 minutes kind of shuttle.

The entire line between MCO and Disney will be double track correct?
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The Brightline VP says they're not in that business.

But they'll be happy to have SunRail run such a service and pay them for use of their tracks, so long as it doesn't interfere with their own trains. That's what they're working on with TriRail in South FL.

But SunRail would have to come up with a heap of money to acquire the rolling stock needed. And getting the 4 counties on the SunRail Board to agree on it might be tough.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
joelkfla said:
The Brightline VP says they're not in that business.

But they'll be happy to have SunRail run such a service and pay them for use of their tracks, so long as it doesn't interfere with their own trains. That's what they're working on with TriRail in South FL.

But SunRail would have to come up with a heap of money to acquire the rolling stock needed. And getting the 4 counties on the SunRail Board to agree on it might be tough.
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I believe SunRail would also be precluded from getting any sort of federal funding for such a project as it would clearly be tourist focused.
 
TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
joelkfla said:
The Brightline VP says they're not in that business.

But they'll be happy to have SunRail run such a service and pay them for use of their tracks, so long as it doesn't interfere with their own trains. That's what they're working on with TriRail in South FL.

But SunRail would have to come up with a heap of money to acquire the rolling stock needed. And getting the 4 counties on the SunRail Board to agree on it might be tough.
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Yes, that’s why I said “ideally.”
 

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