The three steps of the Corridor ID program. Courtesy: FRA
Jacksonville’s rail history
Jacksonville is already host to a storied past for passenger rail. Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway historically operated rail service from Jacksonville to Miami (and at one point Key West) between the late 19th and mid-20th century. The CSX A-Line, originally constructed in 1884 as the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway, and later incorporated into Henry Plant’s Plant System, connected Jacksonville with Central Florida. Paralleling U.S. Highway 17, within the Jacksonville metropolitan area, the rail corridor runs through the Rail Yard District, North Riverside, Riverside, Murray Hill, Ortega, NAS Jacksonville, Orange Park, Fleming Island, Green Cove Springs and Palatka. The FEC and CSX, along with several other railroads, converged in LaVilla, at the Jacksonville Terminal. Opened in 1897 and expanded in 1919, the Jacksonville Terminal was once the largest rail station south of Washington, D.C. At its height, 20,000 passengers a day boarded long distance trains here to other Florida cities, New York, Chicago and points west. The 1960s would bring an end to that, as billions of government dollars poured into highway and airport construction. By the time Amtrak took over most passenger rail in 1971, the FEC had already ended its passenger services, and just three years later, the Terminal closed, with Amtrak relocating to a smaller facility on Clifford Lane.
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