SunRail

SunRail
Overview
Status	Late Planning Stages
Locale	Central Florida
Termini	DeLand, FL Poinciana, FL
Stations	17
Website	SunRail
Service
Type	Regional rail
History
Opened	2013 (Phase 1 Planned)
Technical
Line length	Template:Mi to km
Character	At-grade
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)

SunRail (formerly referred to as Central Florida Commuter Rail) is a planned commuter rail system in the Greater Orlando area, linking Poinciana to DeLand through Downtown Orlando. When completed, the SunRail will run for 61 miles with 17 stations along the CSX Transportation "A" Line (former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad main line). The SunRail system is expected to be fully completed and running sometime in 2015, with the first phase operating as early as 2013.

On November 29, 2007, the State of Florida agreed to pay $491 million to CSX to purchase the "A" Line from DeLand to Poinciana outright. The money was above and beyond the $615 million quoted for the system, which was being used to makes track improvements, construct train stations and purchase rail cars. CSX will still run some limited freight at night on the "A" Line, but most freight traffic would have been rerouted.^[1]

The Florida Legislature approved the CSX-Florida Department of Transportation agreement in order for project construction to begin. However, the legislature failed to consider the agreement in the 2008 session. At issue were provisions regarding liability and indemnification. Commenting on the bill, state senator Paula Dockery said, "I don't envision a time anytime soon where thoughtful senators are going to say that there's some kind of good public policy involved in taking liability away from somebody who was at fault and putting it on the taxpayers of the state of Florida."

Despite this defeat, the contract between CSX and Florida DOT was in place through June 30, 2009, and the legislature planned to use another opportunity to consider and approve the agreement in the 2009 legislative session.^[2][3] Meanwhile, the first segment of the project had already been approved to enter Final Design by the Federal Transit Administration on August 11, 2008.

On January 14, 2009, the SunRail name and logo were presented to the public by City of Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.^[4] Progress continued to move slowly forward on the project until the state legeslative session on April 30, 2009 when the project was once again defeated by a 23-17 vote. The movement against the project, which was once again led by state senators Paula Dockery and Mike Bennett, continued to revolve around an amendment that would have approved a $200 million insurance policy for SunRail. The proposed insurance, however, was similar to the arrangement the state already had with FEC for the South Florida Tri-Rail system. Another political problem for SunRail was an overall lack of support for the project from the South Florida delegation (which included senators Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale, Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, Nan Rich of Weston and Frederica Wilson of Miami) effectively killed the project.

After the second failure, with the deadline to purchase the tracks in question from CSX looming, the State initially pulled the plan from the legislative agenda, endangering as much as $307 million in federal funds that had been promised to SunRail, which would have been taken away if the plan failed. Nearly $27 million of that federal money had already been spent to purchase rail equipment and land for stations, although it was unknown whether or not the State of Florida will have the pay the money back to the federal government. However, CSX rescinded the deadline on June 29,^[5] permitting more negotiation time for insurance arrangements. An agreement on insurance was finally reached, and lawmakers convened a special session in December of 2009 that passed the House on December 7th and the Senate on December 8th. It is also hoped that additional Federal money may be attracted to reduce the financial burden on the State.^[6]

The proposal had been rejected by the Florida Legislature in 2008 and in early 2009. On December 8, 2009 the proposal was passed along with funding for South Florida's Tri-Rail system.

The new commuter rail system is to be financed by the counties, the state, and the federal government. Volusia County, Seminole County, Orange County, the City of Orlando and Osceola County are the partners in the project. The local partners are to foot 25% of the bill, to be matched by the State of Florida. The remaining 50% is to come from a Federal transit "New Starts" grant funds. The total cost of the system is estimated at $615 million.

The SunRail line is presently used by two daily Amtrak round trips, the Silver Meteor and the Silver Star, as well as by numerous CSX freight trains. It was also used by an Amtrak tri-weekly trip, the Sunset Limited from Orlando to Los Angeles, which has been suspended indefinitely due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The tracks are currently owned by CSX Transportation, with plans to purchase the 61 mile route.

The Florida Department of Transportation is in the final stages of placing orders for the rolling stock of the SunRail System. ^[7]

• 7 MPXpress MP36PH-3C locomotives are being bought from Motive Power.
• 4 bi-level coaches are being bought from Bombardier
• 9 cab cars are being bought from Bombardier.

Legend

Amtrak to New York City or Chicago via Jacksonville DeLand DeBary St. Johns River Volusia County Seminole County I-4 Maintenance facility Sanford Amtrak Auto Train to Sanford SR 417 Central Florida GreeneWay Lake Mary Longwood Altamonte Springs Seminole County Orange County Maitland Winter Park AdventHealth Lynx Central Church Street SR 408 Spessard L. Holland E–W Expy. Orlando Health/Amtrak Sand Lake Road SR 528 Martin Andersen Beachline Expy. Brightline to Tampa (proposed) Brightline to MiamiCentral via Orlando Int'l Airport (proposed) Meadow Woods SR 417 Central Florida GreeneWay Florida's Turnpike Orange County Osceola County Tupperware Kissimmee Storage yard Poinciana Amtrak Silver Meteor to Miami Floridian to Miami via Tampa All stations are accessible

This diagram: view talk edit

The following station stops are proposed:

• Poinciana Industrial Park
• Kissimmee (Amtrak station)
• Osceola Parkway
• Meadow Woods
• Sand Lake Road
• Orlando (Amtrak station)/Orlando Regional Medical Center
• Church Street Station (downtown Orlando)
• LYNX Central Station (downtown Orlando)
• Florida Hospital
• Winter Park/Park Avenue (Amtrak station)
• Maitland
• Altamonte Springs
• Longwood
• Lake Mary
• Sanford/State Road 46
• DeBary/Fort Florida Road
• DeLand (Amtrak station)

• Orange County - 7-0 - July 19, 2007 [1]
• City of Orlando - 7-0 - July 23, 2007 [2]
• Seminole County - 5-0 - July 24, 2007 [3]
• Osceola County - 5-0† - July 30, 2007 [4]
• Volusia County - July 31, 2007 [5]

† Osceola County has agreed in principle, but is in the process of examining how to fund their $9.3-million share.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to SunRail.

• SunRail