Similar systems already operate in Florida, like the 8-year-old SunRail with 49 miles of track and 16 stations in Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties. In the first quarter of 2019, it averaged about 6,300 paying riders each weekday, JTA said. Tri-Rail links Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach on lines paralleling I-95 in Dade and Broward counties, with connections to other transit systems. In fiscal-year 2019, it carried about 4.5 million people, JTA said. Florida East Coast already has 100 feet of right of way on its freight line between Jacksonville and St. Augustine, mostly a single track with switches and some double track segments, JTA said. "It is FEC's right-of-way and we have to work with them to be able to use it. But they have enough right-of-way for four lanes of traffic," Clark said. "... Tri-Rail and SunRail have encouraged us to do as much dedicated track as we possibly can to limit the cross- traffic of any other rail service." The proposed stations must have room for more than trains, he said. That includes parking for commuters, room for buses to take them to work and services nearby like retail and restaurants.
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