In the heyday of passenger rail travel, trains rolled
through St. Augustine every day, bringing travelers to the Sunshine State from
the freezing north. In one colorful piece of marketing, the "Florida Special"
carried a swimming pool on it during the 1935-36 winter travel season.
The Amtrak train that ran through St. Augustine Monday didn't have any
swimming amenities in it, or for that matter, any tourists. Instead, it was a
kind of lobbying campaign on wheels for the route Amtrak wants toalong the
Florida coast by adding eight new stops, including the return of regular
passenger rail service to St. Augustine for the first time since 1968.
So far, the state Department of Transportation has been able to identify less
than one-third of the estimated $64 million needed to make the route ready for
passenger trains again. To generate some buzz, Amtrak and the Florida East Coast
Railway operated a demonstration train from Jacksonville to Miami yesterday,
with a return trip today. Amtrak invited government officials and civic and
business leaders to experience train travel by riding free.
"We need their enthusiasm," said Amtrak spokesman Kevin Johnson. "We need
their support."
A few Northeast Florida officials took up the offer, including Jacksonville
City Councilwoman Faye Rustin and St. Augustine City Commissioner Raymond
Connor.
Amtrak has not set a target date for starting the service, other than to say
that after funding is in place, it would take a year to get under way. Based on
the state's budget situation, that would put it at mid-2003 at the earliest.
The $64 million would mainly be for building tracks at some places along the
route so Amtrak trains and slower-moving freight trains won't interfere with
each other. The funding also would cover the cost of signalization, improvements
to railroad crossings and construction of train stations at eight new locations
for Amtrak service: St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Titusville, Cocoa/Port
Canaveral, Melbourne, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce and Stuart.
The state Department of Transportation has set aside $15.5 million for the
work and FEC has agreed to pay $3 million, said Nazih Haddad, manager of
intercity passenger rail for the transportation department. Local governments
would pay a total of about $2 million.
Beyond that, it's not clear where the rest of the money would come from,
Haddad said.
"The DOT's position at this time is that certainly, we're still interested in
it," he said. "We want to see it happen. It would be a lot of benefit to the
east coast of the state. However, we don't have the money."
Amtrak trains now run from Jacksonville to Miami, but the route swings down
the middle of the state.
Last month, Amtrak and FEC signed an agreement in which FEC will let Amtrak
add two daily round-trip runs on the company's coastal tracks between
Jacksonville and West Palm Beach.
