The Choo-Choo really is coming back to Miami. An absolute bevy of new details have come out about the "All Aboard Florida" project, which is that plan to restore passenger rail travel to the old FEC tracks through the heart of Miami. New deers include the boring, dry stuff like how they're going to fund the $1 billion cost (privately, through a mixture of debt and equity), to the juicy, like station locations and trains. Most importantly, the FEC has completed their due diligence, and decided to go forward. (That means it's gonna happen) Here goes:
STATIONS - It has already been confirmed that Miami's station will be located at the FEC land adjacent to Government Center downtown, which is currently surface parking, but exact station locations in Broward and Palm beach are still being determined. Land adjacent to the Broward Central Bus Terminal, which will eventually incorporate facilities for the future Wave Streetcar (the Broward County MPO has already dedicated $8 million towards terminal upgrades for that purpose), could be an ideal spot for the station. As for West Palm Beach, the FEC has suggested a spot on either Quadrille Boulevard between Clematis and Banyan Streets, or Rosemary Avenue, between Third and Seventh. The Orlando station will be at the Orlando International Airport.
DESIGNS - Architects are working on renderings of designs for the stations and trains.
TRAVEL - We already knew that the travel time from Miami to Orlando will be about three hours and three minutes. The FEC has announced that trains will run every hour, and tickets will be competitive with airfare ($140 to $160 a ticket) and car travel, which they estimate to run about $120. There will be multi-class reserved seating, gourmet dining, and wifi, and trains will run at speeds up to 110 mph.
TRAINS - The $1 billion cost includes a set of ten new diesel powered trains with 400 seat capacities.
· Possible station locations [exMiami]
· Details for Miami-Orlando rail released [Local 10]
· Railway company to build passenger service from Miami to Orlando [Reuters]
· The Wave Streetcar [Wave]
· All Aboard Florida coverage [Curbed]