It has taken several years, but on Monday afternoon, government officials and Central Floridians will break ground on the 61-mile SunRail commuter rail project at one of the future station stops–Florida Hospital. The 31-mile first phase of SunRail will serve 12 stations, linking DeBary to Orlando. Phase II will serve 5 additional stations, north to DeLand and south to Poinciana.
For the groundbreaking, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will join Florida officials to kick off phase one of SunRail, Central Florida’s first-ever commuter rail system.
LaHood will join FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Congressman John Mica, Congresswoman Corrine Brown, Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad, and Florida Hospital President, COO Lars Houmann for the kick-off event.
After months of delay, Gov. Rick Scott gave the green light on the 61-mile SunRail commuter rail project to go forward.
Estimated to cost $1.2 billion, the rail system is projected to create 13,500 new jobs through the construction, operation and maintenance phases and some $1.6 billion in economic benefit. In addition, Transit Oriented Development associated with the commuter rail line is expected to bring more than 245,800 new jobs and $7.1 billion in economic benefit.
