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| Credit: SunRail |
It was May 1, 2014 when Central Florida’s new commuter rail line, SunRail carried the first passengers via a route that connected twelve SunRail stations through three different counties. The construction costs were reported in excess of $165 million dollars and were financed in partnership by the federal government, the state and other local partners (including: Volusia County, Seminole County, Orange County, the City of Orlando and Osceola County) Fifty percent of the funding came from a federal transit “New Starts” grant, local partners contributed 25 percent of the cost and another 25 percent was paid by the State of Florida.
Why don’t SunRail trains run on Saturday?
Well, it costs about $20,000 to run trains on a Saturday. SunRail has tested a few Saturday train operations, but needs ridership to make it cost effective. We’ve seen that city wide events at Amway, Camping World Stadium and Orlando City Soccer Stadium can fill trains (if they are running). In fact the record for highest ridership was set at almost 13,000 in March 2017 (a Saturday featuring a soccer game and the Winter Park Arts Festival). This compares to a daily weekly record of about 9,000. We will likely see more Saturday runs as local event planners and business leaders are seeing value in contributing to the cost of “the Saturday run” in exchange for unique promotional opportunities including: on-train advertising, logo placement on stations and billboards, and social media promotions.
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| Credit: SunRail |
Southern Expansion
It was a bright and sunny morning on July 30, 2018 when we saw the launch of the Southern Expansion, connecting Sand Lake Road in Orange County to Poinciana in Osceola County. This is a 17.2-mile segment features four additional stations to the existing rail system.
Meadow Woods – Orange County
Tupperware Station – Osceola County
Kissimmee/Amtrak – Osceola County
Poinciana Station – Osceola County
Northern Expansion
Stay tuned for details on the Northern Expansion that will link DeBary to DeLand in Volusia County. This is a 12-mile segment that will add one station to the existing rail system.
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| Credit: SunRail |
Check out the digital collection of Rider Stories on the SunRail website.