The Federal Railroad Administration may recommend bringing the Amtrak line back to Tallahassee.
The Amtrak line running through Tallahassee has been left vacant since Hurricane Katrina damaged the track from New Orleans to Florida’s capitol in 2005. A proposed line in the Federal Railroad Administration’s national review would restart it, placing Tallahassee in the center of a route running from Dallas to Miami.
More than 100 local residents submitted public comment to the commission backing the line, but any potential passenger rail is still a long way off.
The push to restart rail is being championed by Leon County Commissioner Rick Minor. He said bringing the rail back could be an economic boon for the region.
“The economic boost that we would have would be immense, not to mention just the improved quality of life, you know, think of the college students, they may not need to bring a car to campus any longer if they can take a train back down to South Florida to visit their family and friends. Or even going somewhere for vacation without having to use your car,” Minor said.
But the commissioner does want to temper expectations. Prior attempts to bring back Amtrack to Tallahassee has yielded nothing. He said there are many hoops to jump through, including getting federal and state government support as well as funding before it could become a reality.
However, he sees reason to be hopeful.
“Getting support from the Florida Legislature and the Governor will be an uphill climb, finding the money as another. But Congress has an infrastructure bill has given us a lot more hope than it has in recent years,” he said.
National Railway Historical Society local president Dave Hodges says the success of the public comment campaign for the report is a promising first step.
“So I’m very encouraged that we have something on paper that we can all advocate for, but um, this is a long slow climb for this to happen,” he said.
The commission’s report will be released in the coming months.