AAF Files Court Documents For Extension To Jacksonville

[thelakelander]

It appears that AAF is now setting their eyes on Jacksonville....

New court documents point to All Aboard Florida service to Jacksonville

Court documents filed last week by All Aboard Florida and a newly formed related company point to the passenger rail’s extension of its service on the Florida East Coast Railway tracks north to Jacksonville.

The new company, AAF Jacksonville Segment LLC, which was registered in Delaware May 29, penned agreements filed in St. Johns County June 18 that confirm its rights to run passenger rail on the lines from Cocoa to Jacksonville.

full article: http://realtime.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2014/06/24/new-court-documents-point-to-all-aboard-florida-service-to-jacksonville/

[thelakelander]

Makes sense. I attended a meeting in Daytona earlier this month where city officials and civic leaders were told to start aggressively lobbying for an AAF station of their own.

[Buforddawg]

Now that is some encouraging news!

[Lunican]

That would be nice.

[spuwho]

This is great news even if they consider it strictly a legality to extend their domain.

Tampa will be bummed. They were really obsessed about being next.

Treasure Coast will scream bloody murder because in their eyes it will possibly mean more trains in the future unless it will be strictly a JAX-MCO link.

[thelakelander]

Since the infrastructure is already in place and owned by them, it makes all the sense in the world to move forward with Jax instead of Tampa. The Treasure Coast will scream bloody hell but there's not much they can do about it.

[Ocklawaha]

A quiet connection has informed me that this INCLUDES at least one daily Amtrak train, plus something is going on with 'The Palmetto' a Amtrak train that runs an entirely daylight schedule from Savannah to New York daily. A Jacksonville terminus could be in the cards.

[thelakelander]

Is the Amtrak train to pacify communities that AAF refuses to stop in?

[cline]

So if they wanted to create a Jax to Orlando route the only additional track to be built for would be a SB to WB spur to connect with the new track they're building to Orlando?

[JeffreyS]

I wonder if Daytona or St. Augustine get a stop? I wonder if the terminus will be Downtown or Avenues Walk?

[thelakelander]

So if they wanted to create a Jax to Orlando route the only additional track to be built for would be a SB to WB spur to connect with the new track they're building to Orlando?

Outside of adding capacity along the existing route, pretty much. However, I suspect this will be taken care of with the construction of the Orlando connection.

[thelakelander]

I wonder if Daytona or St. Augustine get a stop? I wonder if the terminus will be Downtown or Avenues Walk?

I can't imagine them stopping at Avenues Walk instead of DT. There's much more development, intermodal, and ridership potential with the old Jax terminal that Henry Flagler built.  I was told a good while ago that there would possibly be a stop in Daytona and not St. Augustine.  I hope that info was wrong. Both are great stops for ridership, IMO.  I assume, if they move forward, they'd conduct their own analysis and make a decision based off the results.

[Elwood]

Exciting news. Downtown makes the most sense for a final stop. However, I do know that future development at Avenues Walk has a dedicated site for a station.

[Lunican]

It would be a shame if Miami got an elaborate new train station and large scale development while Jacksonville got a stop in a Walmart parking lot.

I know COJ is busy fighting over pontoon boats and covering up misspent federal money, but they should really be working with AAF to coordinate the use of the Prime Osborne and all of LaVilla.

[brainstormer]

Totally agree Lunican.  By being proactive and forward thinking, COJ could potentially work a great public/private deal with AAF to really put together a nice compact transportation center along with additional development. 

I'm pretty sure AAF would put the Jax terminal downtown especially with how they seem to be focusing on business travelers.  Since travelers could easily take the Skyway to a handful of hotels downtown, no car needed! 

Avenues Walk and other identified JAX locations are more for potential commuter rail, not AAF.