Here are my notes from the meeting in Cocoa yesterday, hope you all find them interesting, it was a very interesting day.
AMTRAK/FEC CORRIDOR COALITION – KICKOFF MEETING
COCOA CITY HALL, FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 2010 AT 10:00 AM
Here are my notes from this meeting, Noel Weaver.
The meeting was attended by over 100 people in the commission chambers at the brand new city hall building in Cocoa and started right on time. In addition there were people on telephone
conference calls tuned in as well as a live internet connection.
The meeting was well organized and led. It was conducted by Doug Smith, Martin County
Commissioner, representing Amtrak was Todd Stennis, Director of Government Affairs out of New Orleans and representing the State of Florida was Transportation Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos. There may have been somebody from the FEC as well but if so it was not made
known to the people attending.
1. Welcome and Introductions
2. National Amtrak Rail Program – Todd Stennis
3. State Rail Program – Stephanie Kopelousos
Passenger Rail Enterprise
High Speed Rail Update
Commuter Rail Update
Intercity Passenger Rail
Amtrak/FEC Corridor Project
Project Overview
Funding
Project Timeframe
4 Amtrak “Station Cities” Update Update by Individual City Representatives
5. Open Discussion
6. Newt Steps
Various representatives from congressional offices attended and all who spoke expressed support for this project.
At the start of his presentation the Amtrak representative made it pretty clear that the liability
issue with Sunrail must be resolved before much if anything can happen on anything else
regarding Amtrak in Florida and Amtrak is making an effort to do this. All parties have to be
involved (Amtrak, FEC, State of Florida and locals as well).
Under this idea station stops on the FEC would be at St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Titusville,
Cocoa, Melbourne, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce and Stuart for a total of 8 intermediate stops.
Representatives from New Smyrna Beach and Bunnell pleaded to be included but I am not sure that either will be, Amtrak wants the LD trains to make fewer stops and if more are desired this is where state supported corridor trains would or could come in plus commuter services.
Per Amtrak an inspection train will operate on the FEC in either late April or early May between Jacksonville and Miami, details are not settled yet. A number of people in attendance
expressed an interest in being included.
It was also stated that Amtrak is working with another Rail America railroad regarding
passenger service at present. (my comment – the New England Central)
In my opinion, Amtrak provided a good and interesting presentation.
After Amtrak finished, the Secretary of Transportation for the state of Florida Stephanie Koperlousos made a presentation a bit of which follows:
Great enterprise, now how about funding. It was impressed that all should contact their state
representatives (legislature) and push for funding. The governor supports this, if he didn’t I wouldn’t be here this morning. On the high speed rail project good progress has been made.
As for local stations, local cities may need to help out on this financially. It was also brought up that some private funding might be available for development which would include a rail
facility in the process.
She also stated that the FEC and Sunrail are not tied together but Amtrak insists that they are.
After this presentation, representatives from the local cities in which stops are planned were asked to update:
Jacksonville – Working on getting commuter rail to St. Augustine as well as locating a station close to downtown for commuter rail, Amtrak and everything else.
St. Augustine – This representative did not have much to add but said they are looking for state
funds.
Daytona Beach – Thinking about the old location, much land is leased out by FEC and they are
willing to work things out.
Titusville – Considering two different locations.
Cocoa – Very committed to this, two locations under consideration in the area of St. Johns
Street the other near Stone Street.
Melbourne – Two locations under consideration near the airport and also downtown and the
local representative expressed a preference for the downtown location.
Vero Beach – In the historic area downtown
Fort Pierce – Several locations under consideration in historic district. Considering a public/private partnership on this.
Stuart – Immediate downtown area already owned by Martin County and planning a transit facility. In my opinion Stuart seemed to have their act together more than
the others in this regard.
All of the above localities expressed enthusiasm and very strong support.
After some closing remarks the meeting finished about 12:30 PM.
My comments, I think Amtrak had their act together on this, I am not so sure about the
others, some of the politicians did not seem to grasp reality on this, I sure hope it works out.
I was glad to have the opportunity to attend this meeting although it was a long drive up and
back from Fort Lauderdale.
If there are errors, please don’t “shoot the messenger”.
Regards,
Noel Weaver