GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Amtrak Trying to Track $65-Mil Expansion

ORLANDO-Amtrak and the Florida East Coast Railway Co. are convinced they can resurrect passenger rail service and make it profitable along the Atlantic coast from Jacksonville to Miami. The expansion would kickstart new commercial real estate development at eight route cities in the process, they project.

Amtrak and FEC have contracted to try and make the plan work. They feel they could break ground by summer 2002. All they need is seed money–about $65 million for starters. Area politicians are talking to local, state and Federal Government officials on the venture, developer sources tell GlobeSt.com.

Passenger service along the coastline ran from 1885 when Henry M. Flagler, a partner of Standard Oil Co.’s John D. Rockefeller, built the first set of tracks, to 1970 when Florida East Coast canceled the service after it proved to be unprofitable.