Central Florida Commuter Rail

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This article or section contains information about a proposed, planned, or expected public transportation infrastructure in the United States.
It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the infrastructure approaches, and more information becomes available.

Central Florida Commuter Rail route

Legend

Amtrak Silver Service to New York

DeLand (Amtrak station)

DeBary/Fort Florida Road

Sanford/State Road 46 (Amtrak station)

Winter Park/Park Avenue

Florida Hospital

Lynx Central Station (downtown Orlando)

Church Street Station (downtown Orlando)

Orlando (Amtrak station) /

Orlando Regional Medical Center

Sand Lake Road

Meadow Woods

Osceola Parkway

Kissimmee (Amtrak station)

Poinciana Industrial Park

Amtrak Silver Service to Miami

Central Florida Commuter Rail is a proposed commuter rail system in the Central Florida (Orlando) area. The rail line is expected to be fully completed and running sometime in 2013 (with the first phase operating as early as 2010). It would run for 61 miles along the CSX Transportation "A" Line (former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad main line) from Poinciana Boulevard near Kissimmee through downtown Orlando to DeLand. This line is presently used by two daily Amtrak round trips. The system will be financed by counties, the state, and the federal government.

Volusia County, Seminole County, Orange County, the City of Orlando and Osceola County are the partners in the project. The local partners will combine to foot 25% of the bill, which the State of Florida will match. The remaining 50% will come from a Federal grant provided for by the 2005 SAFETEA-LU act. The total cost of the system is $615 million.

On November 29, 2007, the State of Florida agreed to pay $491 million to CSX to purchase the "A" Line from DeLand to Poinciana outright. The money was above and beyond the $615 million quoted for the system, which is being used to construct train stations and purchase rail cars. CSX will use its money to reroute freight traffic off of the "A" Line.^[1]

In April of 2008, however, a bill authorizing the purchase failed in the Florida legislature. At issue were provisions which indemnified CSX in most cases and which granted immunity to private contractors. Commenting on the bill, state senator Paula Dockery said, "I don't envision a time anytime soon where thoughtful senators are going to say that there's some kind of good public policy involved in taking liability away from somebody who was at fault and putting it on the taxpayers of the state of Florida." The defeat of the measure leaves the project in limbo.^[2]^[3]