Florida Space Coast leaders push for Brightline stop
Brevard County leaders are hoping Brightline passenger train service currently being expanded won’t just pass through the area, but eventually will stop on Florida’s Space Coast. Government officials from Cape Canaveral, Cocoa and Cocoa Beach went down to South Florida to ride one of the trains and see for themselves the train system that eventually will connect Miami to Orlando and then Tampa, skirting Brevard along its way. The company has promised a stop in Brevard. Passenger service linking South Florida with Orlando International Airport, is expected to begin in early 2023. [floridatoday.com]
Amtrak long-distance trains miss new on-time goals
Sixteen of 43 Amtrak routes — none of them long-distance — met the 80% on-time performance threshold established by the FRA in first-quarter 2022 statistics. The latest stats are the first to use all of the metrics established by the FRA. They measure on-time performance, customer service, financial performance, and public benefits. The best record belonged to the Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawatha service, which averaged 95.1% on-time performance. The worst was Auto Train, with an on-time rate of just 24.2%. The best long-distance performance was by the City of New Orleans at 79.9%. [trains.com]
Omaha Streetcar Authority schedules first meeting
The new Omaha Streetcar Authority will hold its first public meeting next Monday. The authority was created to handle the design, maintenance and eventual operation of Omaha’s proposed streetcar system. It was formed as a joint entity between Metro Transit and the city. An agenda shared by the city outlines plans for the first meeting that includes a report from local architecture firm HDR on the streetcar’s design and timeline. The public meeting is set for 1:30 p.m. Monday in the legislative chambers of City Hall. [omaha.com]
Queen Elizabeth II opens eponymous London line
The UK monarch has made a surprise visit to the new rail line completed in her honor. Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a plaque at Paddington Station in London, officially opening the Elizabeth line. The new east-west Crossrail project has been around 13 years in the works, and will finally open to the public on May 24th. Buckingham Palace called the event “a happy development”, revealing “the organisers were informed of the possibility she may attend.” [euronews.com]
