Here's a link to a recent story if your browser can survive the Ad-Nightmare that FlaToday has become:

528 Virgin Trains


This project sounds like more of a burden on Brevard than anything else.

Does anyone know where the train will actually run through Brevard?

The artcle mentions new track being built along 528 east from Orlando to US1 in Brevard.

But after that, what track will the trains run on? The pre-existing tracks we have now along US1?

or will they be building new lines?

Supposedly they will be running a high speed train every hour through Brevard (with no stop in Brevard)





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When America was "great"

Edited: 08/05/2019 at 10:28 AM by fishkller

Found another article:

UGH


Sound pretty sucky.

We'll get endless trains running through town at 100+ mph

Snarling traffic at critical intersections, and of course there's the noise as well.


Can't see any upside for Brevard residents, unless you're looking for a quick suicide solution.

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When America was "great"

Edited: 08/05/2019 at 10:38 AM by fishkller

Sounds great for Brevard:

http://veronews.com/2019/06/27...k-on-safety-upgrades/


Virgin Trains keeps Brevard in dark on safety upgrades
Written by: Henry Stephens June 27 2019

Virgin Trains USA, the company planning a $3.1 billion express passenger service between Orlando and Miami, has yet to tell Brevard County officials how it will make local tracks and crossings safe enough for speeds up to 110 mph.

"We were informed more than two years ago they would provide us with final plans (by December) showing the requirements and all they were going to install," Brevard County government spokesman Don Walker said last week.

"That was two Decembers ago, and we're heading into our third December and, to date, have seen nothing," he added.

And that's a common complaint heard by state Sen. Debbie Mayfield (R-Melbourne) as she tries to make sure Virgin keeps its word and makes the new service as safe as possible.

Officials in Indian River County, Brevard's southern neighbor, are also trying to get final plans for track and crossing improvements, records show.

And Virgin is anticipated to start work there later this year, with the company saying construction is "imminent." The target completion date for the entire Miami to Orlando run is three years.

"They keep sending plans they say are complete," Mayfield said. "But when the local government questions (the lack of detail), they are told that set of plans is incomplete."

Virgin Trains USA wasn't ready last week to respond to Mayfield's concerns. Company Vice President Rusty Roberts couldn't be reached. And Michael Hicks, a new corporate spokesman, said he didn't know yet when the company would be improving tracks and crossings in Brevard County.

"I still have the 30,000-foot view," Hicks said of the larger picture. "I haven't get gotten into the nitty-gritty."

Company officials were excited in the meantime, he said, by breaking ground for its terminal at the Orlando International Airport. Virgin Trains are already running between Miami and West Palm Beach, with a stop in Fort Lauderdale.

Mayfield said her safety concerns are based on Virgin Trains already seeing 19 deaths since May 2018, when it started its first-phase passenger rail service on the Florida East Coast Railway tracks through communities and downtowns in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Virgin officials have protested that those victims were trespassers at fault for trying to cross the tracks. But Mayfield said Virgin hasn't installed enough fencing or other obstacles to keep them off the tracks.

The goal of Virgin Trains - previously known as All Aboard Florida and then Brightline - is to offer 16 round trips per day between Miami and Orlando to connect the state's top tourist destinations.

That's 32 train trips a day. And to meet the company's promise of about 3 hours one way - as an alternative to frequently congested Interstate 95 and Florida's Turnpike - Virgin Trains will have stops only in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando.

Brevard and other counties along the way have demanded stops as well, but Virgin Trains officials have said they will need to see ridership figures first. The more local stops, the less the ability to meet the 3-hour promise.

Meanwhile, the FEC Railway will continue running about 20 freight trains per day on the tracks.

And that calls for adding a second track from West Palm Beach to Cocoa for the passenger service, and laying new tracks along State Road 528 between Cocoa and Orlando.

One frustration for Mayfield is a gap in state regulations for higher speed trains (80-110 mph) such as Virgin Trains' proposed service. Trains going slower than 80 mph are regulated, as are those going faster than 110 mph. This was spelled out in an Oct. 31 report by the Office of Public Policy Analysis & Government Accountability.

Requiring fencing along the tracks in populated areas is among the regulations FDOT could consider, the reports says.

Mayfield said she wants state Transportation Secretary Kevin J. Thibault to take more responsibility for the 80-110 mph trains. She held off filing a bill for the 2019 session, giving Thibault some slack, since Gov. Ron DeSantis had only appointed him in January. But she's filing that bill for the 2020 session, she said.

In an exchange of letters in April, Mayfield questioned why Thibault has been reluctant to require fencing along the new track. The Oct. 31 report had said fencing could save lives.

"The (FDOT) currently does not set requirements for fencing and has concerns that this action would be subject to issues with legal authority for right of way and private property ownership," Thibault responded.

Thibault didn't wholeheartedly embrace her concerns, Mayfield said. "But this bill will make sure he is more embracing," she added.

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When America was "great"

Did you ever find the route?

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I :heart; Q

My understanding is that they plan to use the existing lines that parallel US1. IR and St. Lucie county residents fighting this as well. citizensagainstthetrain.com

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add a signature since I'm here in profile anyway

That's what I figured. Yeah, that will be a pain in the ass.

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I :heart; Q

The box car ones that are miles long might be worse (loud, long and slow).

It's in the 3rd post above- they are building new lines along 528, then it looks like they will be building new lines parallel to the existing us1 lines, or using those same rails

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When America was "great"

Send Senator Scott a message and ask him.


http://www.miamiherald.com/new.../article216640190.html

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I was right.

Edited: 08/06/2019 at 05:20 AM by Cole

a post from another forum about cars versus trains, , , ,

another example of pure greedy fukkery at it's worse....in the late teens, early 20's of last century, Henry Ford, Goodyear Tires and Standard Oil formed a secret troika that started a land company that quietly began buying up tens of thousands of small parcels across the US.

Why these particular parcels? Ford's industrial spies had obtained the exact location routes of all the additional track lines the railroads wanted to crisscross the US with to keep railroads the prime mover of good and folks. So by buying up all the key intersection parcels with roads and highways along the planned routes, they effectively blocked them. When the railroad magnates banded together and took their case to congress, the troika's bought and paid for congressmen prevented them from even getting a hearing.

Once the railroads abandoned their plans, the Troika's next push with congress was to lobby them to start building highways across the US, the major ones following those exact routes. And so their master plan was a huge success, shutting down the viability of trains for mass transportation of goods and people, guaranteeing the immense future profits of the auto, tire and gas companies, and effectively shutting down forever the viability of rapid mass transit across state and country.

We are rapidly approaching the tipping point, in so many ways..

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Dora Hates You

Cole,

Bad link. ??

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Dora Hates You

Fixed.



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I was right.

bump

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When America was "great"

Seems like a Port Canaveral stop would make sense. I'd like to see all major cities in FL connected by train. From Canaveral you should be able to get to Jax, Tampa, Orlando, Miami.

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Capitalism is based on the ridiculous notion that you can enjoy limitless growth in a closed, finite system.

In biology, such behavior of cells is called "cancer".

fix the f-ing rivers first

I'm going to buy all the cheap property along the tracks, and then complain about the trains, , , , , , , ,

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Dora Hates You

I happy if it reduces single traffic, but seeing the trees being shredded and mulched kinda sucks.

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I was right.

great granpa Rusty mcFlagler nods in agreement

horton hears a who?

Me too, so long as it is done by a private company. Think that would enhance the livability of the state.

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I :heart; Q