There’s been allot of questions lately about the “All Aboard Florida” proposal. Here in the Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter area the train tracks run right through the center of the developed area so every is relatively close to the tracks which will be used for this proposal. As it stands now the tracks are used for freight traffic. These trains are not built to be quiet and although it’s a bit of a nusance it’s really no bid deal.
The plan is to run 32 trains daily between Miami and Orlando on the Florida East Coast Railway tracks. They won approval for a 1.75B bond and work has begun on this project for the Miami to West Palm beach leg including the construction of a new train station in downtown West Palm across from the court house.
This will be a high speed (79 mph (127 km/h) Miami – West Palm Beach; 110 mph (177 km/h) West Palm Beach – Cocoa; 125 mph (201 km/h) Cocoa – Orlando) rail with the only proposed stops being Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando. There is a Wiki page for this project with many good details at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Aboard_Florida . The existing track from West Palm Beach to Cocoa would have to be improved to meet federal standards for an increased 110 miles per hour (177 km/h) speed limit from the current 79 mph (127 km/h) limit. The Federal Railroad Administration performed an environmental impact study which may be read at https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0672 . This report indicates that at worst some areas will have a ‘moderate noise impact’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1elgw0uE1I&feature=youtu.be
The Florida Development Finance Corp., which would act as conduit issuer for All Aboard Florida, must also clear the deal. As of Tuesday, the corporation had taken no action on the bonds nor scheduled a public hearing. A public hearing is required by the IRS for tax-exempt bonds.
