High-speed passenger rail service planned for Miami to Orlando by the end of 2014
Skift Take
This will be the first privately-run, non-subsidized passenger service between major cities in the U.S., and take about half the time of the current Amtrak service at a price competitive to flying or driving.
The All Aboard Florida project promises not just to revolutionize travel between the two cities -- there will also be intermediate stops in downtown Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach -- but to transform a long-vacant piece of downtown Miami.
FECI, the real-estate arm of the conglomerate that also owns the Florida East Coast freight-rail company, will build a new, landmark station and a potentially massive mixed-use development on nine acres of fallow land it owns just north of the Miami-Dade County Courthouse. FECI will also own and operate the new train service, All Aboard Florida executive Husein Cumber said.
The land is the site of the original train station built by Henry Flagler that gave rise to the city of Miami.
To design the stations, FECI has hired SOM, the giant, famed firm responsible for the new Freedom Tower at ground zero in Manhattan. SOM will work in collaboration with the downtow
