J Magazine Winter 2019

VIRGIN TRAINS USA STATIONS ///
/// MIAMI ///
/// FORT LAUDERDALE ///
/// WEST PALM BEACH ///
/// ORLANDO ///
LEFT: ASSOCIATED PRESS; ABOVE: VIRGIN TRAINS USA (4)
the Regional Transportation Center.
Amtrak currently operates two trains, the Silver Meteor and Silver
Star through Jacksonville. In fiscal year 2018, the Jacksonville station
off New Kings Road was used by 66,471 passengers.
During a 2011 interview with the Florida Times-Union, Amtrak
spokeswoman Christina Leeds went as far as to state that the passenger
rail company wants to move Downtown, but that it needed assurances
from JTA that the Prime Osborn could handle the trains and
that JTA has the funding necessary to support a regional transportation
facility. At the time, the passenger rail portion of the Regional
Transportation Center had been placed on hold due to the project’s
$146 million price tag, with as much as one-third of the costs being
budgeted for the need to upgrade railroad infrastructure.
In an August 2018 Jacksonville Business Journal interview, JTA
CEO Nat Ford suggested that a Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and
Safety Improvement grant from the Federal Railroad Administration
would open the door for passenger rail to come back to the Prime
Osborn.
According to Cawton, the project “works to alleviate a single point
of congestion for freight movement, thus allowing for increased productivity
and modern controls to improve safety. Without these improvements,
any additional rail services like commuter/passenger
rail will not be possible.”
In June 2019, the Federal Railroad Administration announced
that Jacksonville would receive up to $17.6 million through the Consolidated
Rail program. A result of a successful collaboration between
JTA, the city of Jacksonville, the FDOT, Florida East Coast Railway and
CSX, the project will modernize rail switches, construct staging track
and upgrade rail communications technology to reduce congestion
of rail and automobile traffic through Downtown and San Marco.
In a city starved for Downtown development, the clear economic
and multimodal benefits of rail-based infrastructure investments
that cities across Florida are enjoying should not be ignored locally.
With the Regional Transportation Center nearing completion,
Virgin’s continued expansion, Amtrak’s desire for relocation and financial
obstacles possibly being alleviated, now is the time to get serious
about restoring passenger rail service at the Prime Osborn, the
former Union Terminal
As mentioned by Neal Payton, an Urban Land Institute panel expert
commissioned by JTA at a 2018 public forum, a Downtown train
station is a “game changer.”
The game has already changed in other Florida cities. It’s time for
Jacksonville.
ENNIS DAVIS is a graduate of Florida A&M University, a certified senior
planner with Alfred Benesch and Company, a trustee for the Florida Trust
for Historic Preservation, chair of the American Planning Association Florida
Chapter’s First Coast Section and Groundwork Jacksonville board member.
WINTER 2019 | J MAGAZINE 39