CSX Line to Miami??

The CSX line to Miami FL goes from Jacksonville FL to Orlando FL then through Winter Haven then to Okeechobee FL and then east to(through Indiantown FL) West Palm Beach FL and then south from West Palm Beach FL.

Also on the CSX line from West Palm Beach to Miami FL is the Tri-Rail commuter train.

Have you ever looked at some of the tracks along the CSX line? Some of the tracks at the stations along the CSX line look like they need immediate repair as the track pins are sticking up at an inch or more out of the crossties.

FEC runs from Jacksonville to Miami FL along the east coast of Florida, that's part of the reason for it's name. So for the All Aboard  Florida there is only the need to run new track from Cocoa Beach FL to Orlando FL for FEC, maybe double track some other areas.

FEC and CSX tracks do not meet in Miami, they may be close by but don't meet up as far as I know of. Amtrak would have to diverge at Jacksonville for the Miami FL run on FEC tracks.

A few years back, almost 10 years, Amtrak had made an inaugural run on FEC tracks to Miami being led by an FEC GP-40. The project went under because of no additional federal funding for Amtrak. I wish that project would have gone through as there are more large cities on the east coast of Florida then in central Florida.

One thing that I have noticed about FEC tracks is that they get inspected and or repaired close to every two months. Also FEC uses mainly concrete crossties except at some bridges.

Lee Fritz

"Track pins" are called "spikes."

Understood that the two lines do not meet but when FEC build its new passenger terminal in Miami will a connection be built from CSX so Amtrak can use the same space or will Amtrak stick with the new Airport terminal?  

If Im not mistaken...the line through Orlando is old ACL and to Miami is SAL.  The portion of the SAL above where the line breaks off the ACL is abandoned.

I still can't find any intermodal terminal for CSX in Miami...but FEC has a nice sized one.  There seems to be no sizeable yard for CSX in Miami at all.

In West Palm Beach there is a connection between CSX and the FEC but it is pretty poor shape and would need to be rebuilt for it to be used heavily. CSX freight into Miami and mostly mix freight.  The FEC deals with all of the intermodal traffic in South Florida.  

The Miami Herald had an article about FEC's new station in Miami on 9 acres and with three towers and parking. The article has a nice graphic. I'll try to find the link. I don't believe Amtrak (via CSX) will come in there, but it will accommodate a bus station and Miami's local light rail, plus it's only a 1/4 mile from the Tri-rail.

FEC and NS each have intermodal facilities in Miami, but NS is losing trackage rights to Miami on FEC rails so its intermodal is not used much any more. CSX just built a large new intermodal in Winter Haven which can be viewed in Google Earth. 

If All Aboard Florida gets up and running on the current schedule, and makes a go of it, plans are to extend from Cocoa Beach to Jacksonville. This would finally restore Henry Flagler's railroad back to it's roots as a passenger and freight carrier. And maybe Amtrak would use the FEC too----

I have been that they are planning to build a Amtrak station in wildwood. Wildwood is on the backside of the villages, which is the largest retirement community in the country. I am pretty sure this is the same CSX line that runs to Miami.

Doesn't the state of Florida or Tri rail own the tracks Palm beach south to Miami with CSX having trackage rights for freight?

Never mind, all my questions were answered in the video FECguy posted.  Brings back memories when I used to live down there. 

At this point I do not see passenger service coming back to the S-Line unless the state of Florida funds it.  The S-Line has become CSX's only freight through route in Florida.  A part of the A-Line through Orlando is owned by the state of Florida and there are no through freight trains on the route anymore.  The State would probably have to invest in basically double tracking the S-Line between Baldwin and Vitis before CSX would allow them to put Amtrak trains on that route again.  

To get back to your original question, I can't say for sure if you were looking at the CSX ex-Seaboard Air Line route which carried passengers, but I can tell you that CSX track is far and away the roughest riding that I have experienced in the modern era.  I rode Amtrak, running on CSX, across New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

they may be double tracking the s-line. they just double tracked the s-line here in Ocala about a year ago or so. but I do not know how long the double track goes for.

FEC does not serve Cocoa Beach and neither does any other railroad. FEC serves Cocoa (actually Cocoa-Rockledge). Cocoa Beach is several miles east of Cocoa. The new track extension to the Orlando airport will branch off from the FEC main line a few miles north of Cocoa near the Bee Line Expressway, which it will parallel. The Orlando airport is east of town several miles so the new passenger service will not actually reach Orlando.

Amtrak runs on ex-ACL tracks from Jacksonville via Orlando to Auburndale where it turns south on former SAL trackage to Miami. One Amtrak train, the Silver Star, makes a westward jump from Auburndale to Tampa via Lakeland on the ex-ACL. The Silver Meteor does not make this detour. 

CSX freights to Miami run via the old SAL from Jacksonville via Ocala to Coleman then to a point north of Dade City where they run on ex-ACL tracks to Vitis where they can take continue on the ex-ACL to Lakeland and Auburndale before turning south on the ex-SAL to Miami OR (dispatcher's choice) they can run from Vitis to Plant City (a mix of ex-ACL and SAL) where they turn east on the ex-ACL via Lakeland to Auburndale. There is a large yard near Lakeland called Winston Yard where freight may be dropped off or picked up. 

Oddly, CSX no longer runs a direct freight between Orlando and Tampa. Anything going between these two points is routed via Waycross, GA.

Years ago, CSX abandoned the direct ex-SAL main line from Coleman to Auburndale, a shorter run for the freights with only a couple of curves in the 50+ miles. I've never understood their reasoning for it.

-JH

CSX has done improvements to the S-Line because of the increase of freight traffic from removing most of freight trains from the A-Line that Sun Rail effected.    They have added new sidings and expanded double track in some locations like Ocala and Wildwood.  The other major improvement has been basically double tracking the whole route between Callahan and Baldwin.  The route still has a good amount of single track left though.  For actually Passenger service on that route the State Of Florida would probably end up paying the cost to double track the rest of the S-Line. 

So how many train daily use the CSX Auburndale SUB?  And with the new Winter Haven intermodal facility...wouldn't it have been nice to have the Auburndale SUB still intact from Auburndale to Coleman?  CSX would have a direct shot to the facility and could abandon or downgrade the line to Lakeland...where you either have to go left or right to get anywhere.  CSX abandoned tons of mainline in FL and Im not sure why...most all served a logical routing option.  And CSX waiting till 1986 or so to do this.  There were plenty of trains on all the CTC lines CSX abandoned up to that point.

Also, looking on Google Maps.  It looks like many sidings on the Auburndale SUB are filled with car storage.  Are most sidings out of service?