Amtrak FEC Corridor Coalition not dead yet

In an interview with St. Augustine City Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline, the St. Johns County local news desk learned that even though stimulus funds were awarded to a High Speed Tampa-Orlando rail system, plans for an East Coast rail are still alive.

The proposed Amtrak FEC East Coast passenger rail project that would allow passengers to travel by train all along the east coast of Florida from Jacksonville to Miami is not dead yet. In fact, with over 125 supporting resolutions from city, county and local business groups already passed, even more strident voices are joining in support.

As a preliminary move, Sikes-Kline explained that the St. Augustine City Commission has already approved a plan that, in theory, has the Amtrak FEC Corridor Coalition building a new train depot for passenger rail service in the area west of St. Augustine Fire Station 1; west of Ponce de Leon Boulevard near the intersection of Malaga Street.

Under the proposal, Amtrak would build the depot and the city would maintain it.

Renewed efforts are building to produce the funding needed to build the project.

Coastal cities located along the east coast route are now forming to schedule an Amtrak FEC Corridor Coalition meeting at the end of February in Cocoa Beach.

“Here in St. Augustine, plans are being made by Glen Hastings and myself for a mid-March community wide meeting”, Sikes-Kline said. “We need to focus attention on the project’s benefits and the need to increase the awareness of lawmakers in Tallahassee and Washington to appropriate available funds to move forward quickly.”

St. Augustine is touted as the “poster child” for an Amtrak station, since it is located near the city’s multi-modal center and downtown travel destinations.

The Amtrak FEC Corridor project “will boost redevelopment plans, increase stay-cations, capture increased local spending as well as provide immediate construction jobs along the entire east coast of Florida”, according to Sikes-Kline.

The rail station is projected to bring an estimated 40,000-50,000 new visitors annually to the city.

By the Numbers

52: estimated hours per year Americans spend stuck in traffic

$3 billion: value of fuel and time estimated to be wasted by those motorists stuck in traffic

$10.5 billion: federal stimulus funds available for passenger rail projects

$57 billion: value of applications for the rail stimulus funds that have been made so far

$268 million: cost to restore passenger rail service to Florida’s East Coast

36: months it will take to get service running after money is awarded

176,000: passengers expected to traverse the track each year

1,353: temporary construction jobs that would be created under the project

201: long-term operations jobs that would be created

3,322: jobs associated with development around the tracks that would be created

$2 billion: value of land development around the tracks that could be sparked

SOURCE: Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council