Last train out of Hialeah, please turn out the lights...

AmtrakFan wrote:

262 wrote:I do not think in the intrest of competion,the line should be open to a bid from Florida East Coast Industries.If a vieable short line such as Rail America is not intrested,The Miami Subdivision should be turned over to Conrail Shared Assets,and Norfolk Southern should have trackage rights from Simpson Yard to Homestead.

How about CSX form a Subsitary like CP did with the St. Lawernce and Hudson in the 90's. That would be great also sell it to NS they want to get down there their was even talk abou them FEC at one time.

AmtrakFan

but at least CP connected to them...

NS doesnt, and the FEC really doesnt either

the only place csx and FEC interchange, to my knowledge is jacksonville

no one but a shortline will bid on this, and honestly that is a stretch

no one wants a proffitless several hundred mile stretch of railroad (auburndale to west palm) which connects to a passenger cooridoor and a few local industries

as has been mentioned several times, the only steady money comes in the form of the K990 series rock trains, which all go stay in the state (Tampa, orlando and wildwood). CSX will get this interchange traffic ANYWAY, no matter what.

FEC does not want it, they already have their lines, why the hell would they want west palm - auburndale? they abandoned quite alot of mileage in this area (around the big lake) because it couldnt make any money

the only part they may be relatively interested in is south of hialeagh to homestead, but that is doubtful...

Remember the FEC abandoned their own line to homestead in the mid to late 80's...

I think the only saviour for this line is the state buying auburndale to west palm... if they do that, csx will (likely) keep south of hialeah and just deal with the crappy scheduling they get... they already have trackage rights on the state owned stretch anyway

NS Connects with CSX in Jacksonville.

AmtrakFan

AmtrakFan wrote:NS Connects with CSX in Jacksonville

are you aware of how many rail miles there are between jacksonville and auburndale?

hint? several hundred (if you want to know exactly, i can look it up)

I live here and I know just a tad more about railroading in this state than you...

NS would be stupid to want a worthless stretch of track completely isolated from the rest of its system by several hundred miles...

furthermore

let me make a statement about shortlined ex-SCL/CSX lines in florida

the pinsley lines, the SGLR, SCFE and (if it is even still in existance) FWCRR have done basically nothing to survive and in the end, will not

the track is mostly 10mph junk track, some excepted they produce very little traffic and there is no way in hell that you could expect to run passenger trains on them

that is why no shortline will touch this line, they would have to keep it up to passenger rail (80mph) standards, which is just not proffitable considering the lack of outbound traffic revenue realative to the costs of maintaining the physical plant (and signaling, remember, this is TCS territory with signaled sidings)

I think the only way this line can be saved is if the state steps in

it will be no loss either way

There are a lot of "IF'S" involved here.
A constitutional ammendment was passed a couple of years ago
providing for the establishment, construction and operation of a "Bullet
Train" in Florida. Governor Bush and his bunch are trying to get this
ammendment scrapped in another vote this fall and it appears now that
this will be on the ballot.
I would be inclined to support the derailment of the "Bullet Train" if the
state would show some interest in intercity passenger train service
throughout the state, so far they have shown little or none. If Florida
would get something going with Amtrak similar to what there is in the
Pacific Northwest or in California, it would be much cheaper and in the long run, just as good as a "Bullet Train". If the state does nothing for
intercity rail, I will not vote to repeal the ammendment.
This particular line is a key line for the state to acquire ownership of if they have any interest in rail passenger service of any kind down here.
Amtrak does a good business down in this neck of the woods, I saw train
97, The Metour arrive and depart Fort Lauderdale and a good number of
people got off that train. The train was right on time at 8:20PM too which
in my opinion is really good considering that it ran 1142 miles on CSX
dispatched track. Actually it was a few minutes ahead of time but that is
OK because they do not pick up any passengers from West Palm to Miami.
Still think the state will end up buying this line, it would be a lot cheaper
than trying to acquire and engineer a new line.
The most recent timetable that I have been able to get my hands on for
this territory is seven years old and I admit that a lot of things can happen
in seven years but at that time, there were three different short line that
interchanged with this line. In addition, apparently at that time there was/
is a Cogeneration Plant at Indiantown which had provisions for receiving
coal. I kind of wonder what the status of that is, maybe I will take a ride
up in that direction in the near future. I also remember a few years ago
taking a ride up in that area looking for something else and I think it was
either Indiantown or Okeechobee that I saw quite a few cars spotted at
that time. Maybe to satisfy my curosity, I will take an Amtrak ride up
that way sometime later on this summer or fall, this topic has really
aroused my curosity.
If this line were to be shut down completely, I would suspect that Amtrak
would make a deal with the FEC to run on their railroad north from West
Palm. Amtrak might continue to run a stub train between Jacksonville and
Orlando and the rest of our state would have NO SERVICE so far as
passenger trains are concerned.
Amtrak has only two places in Florida where passenger trains are serviced, one is Hialeah and the other is Sanford. At one time, they had
one in Tampa but they shut it down some time back.
I think it is safe to say that the whole railroad situation in Florida and the
passenger train situation too is subject to many changes, stay tuned, it
could be quite interesting.
Noel Weaver

the only places "shortlines" interchange with this line is in west lake wales (the florida central or florida midland, pinsley lines) which generates only a couple carloads a WEEK, if that. CSX is storing covered hoppers in the "yard" at lake wales... that says something about this little shortline

the other is the SCFE, which generates mostly sugar and carload freight and is a very seasonable operation. This is mostly ex-FEC (for all you anti-CSX types) and circles the big lake. They interchange at Marcy, FL

FEC does interchange at hialeah, down by the airport, although I am not sure how much this is actually used...