SPEEDWAY TO THE SUN. The Florida East Coast Railway (that's one of the names of longer standing in North American railroading, to my knowledge only Union Pacific, Canadian Pacific, and possibly Kansas City Southern have been in use longer, confining the discussion to major railroads, because I don't want to debate Escanaba and Lake Superior or Marinette Tomahawk and Western). The railroad came into being as a way to get northerners to the beachfront property they bought in Florida and Atlantic Coast Line's trains to Miami switched to Florida East Coast at Jacksonville. In the aftermath of a strike those trains moved to Seaboard Air Line: the railroads were already contemplating a merger under the redundant name Seaboard Coast Line (Atlantic Seaboard Line would be more descriptive as well as more railroady). Now there's a possibility the passenger trains will return.

Amtrak and the Florida DOT are moving at record speed in getting the job done and getting Amtrak to run Amtrak trains from Jacksonville to Miami via the Florida East Coast Ry. Two round-trip trains would pass along the route under current plans, and would cost about $250 million to prepare the freight line for passenger trains, including stations – and all that could take three years.

The railroad, which handles several expedited intermodal trains daily, is effectively passenger train ready (I swiped my post title from some advertising copy of years ago). Why does it take three years (keeping in mind that Central Pacific built from Sacramento to Utah in six years, hampered by the Southern Rebellion, a supply chain on the high seas, the Sierra Nevada, and the desert)?

Charlie Crocker, meet Michael Busha, Executive Director of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Center.

"Working together between May and July, Florida DOT, the RPCs, Amtrak, local governments, and agencies conducted 34 public hearings including, public information workshops, design sessions to develop station plans, and presentations to city councils and commissions. Hundreds of citizens and property owners participated in the workshops. Multiple station locations were reviewed in the eight cities, concept plans were developed, and due diligence conducted. In the six weeks between June and mid-July, all eight cities adopted resolutions that confirmed the recommended station locations. These resolutions indicating ‘locally preferred alternatives’ for stations are another required piece of the application.”

I set out the workshopping and due diligence. It's detailed in the article, and not for the faint of heart. Process, nuance, failure. Can't have the shade of Henry Flagler imposing his will, without benefit of eminent domain, on the good folk of Cocoa Beach or greater Cape Canaveral, without a hearing.