Editorial: No express trains, but good progress for new rail... | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

Questions about the actual cost to the transit rider have yet to be made, but there is progress on getting the Coastal Link commuter train project along the FEC right-of-way started. However, it may be another 5 years before you'll be able to board in downtown Lake Worth and travel to downtown Ft. Lauderdale. This will have a significant, positive impact to our region. It is just that the devil is in the details. From the Palm Beach Post editorial, click title for link.

Amid all of the rancor over plans for a long-distance passenger train service along the South Florida coast, a different and even more important story is being largely overlooked, one that will have far more impact on the region’s railways and the development of its mass transit system. That’s the future of a local, Tri-Rail-operated commuter train service on tracks running through the heart of the region’s downtown centers, connecting cities from Jupiter to Miami.
It will be more than five years before this local train service, Tri-Rail Coastal Link, is up and running. But plans for what it would look like are starting to take shape, with an important agreement finalized in late April. Because the service would run on the private Florida East Coast Railway tracks, public transit officials have had to negotiate with the company, and coming to terms is hardly a given. Indeed, the most tenuous talks, regarding costs, are still ongoing.