Today’s news wire states Amtrak thinks FEC Jacksonville - West Palm Beach first to get expanded Amtrak service. This would be a split at Jacksonville of the Silver Star. The Amtrak PRIIA report on Silver service states that the FEC route at the present is not Capable.
I have not found any statement on any Amtrak sites stating such service could start. Does anyone have other information to the contrary ?
The “PRIIA Section 210 Report for FY 2011” reads, in part,
"Amtrak evaluated several alternatives for extending or routing existing Silver Service trains over the Florida East Coast…
"Operation of a section of the Silver Star over the FEC is not included in the plan because it cannot be implemented at this time…
"
The old-timers among us will enjoy the irony of reinstating passenger service on FEC, where almost all passenger service was discontinued in 1961 due to a strike.
Correction, Paul; it was in 1963 that the FEC was struck.
In 1967, I rode the FEC train from West Palm Beach to Jacksonville, and planned to ride the Champion to Washington. We were held up by a red block at the junction just below St. Augustine (apparently the work of a union man) so I missed the Champion and had to take the Silver Star instead.