The Winter Park-Maitland Observer has a feature on how Central Florida communities intend to make SunRail a draw for riders and to succeed where its much-maligned South Florida counterpart, TriRail, has not. #

Part of the plan involves making the station’s focal points of new developments that are amenable to pedestrians and accessible by bus. The article also notes that Congressman John Mica hopes to use SunRail as a model for an effort to reinvigorate TriRail. #

Here’s Mica (who currently serves as transportation chair in the U.S. House of Representatives): #

“When they built Tri-Rail, they said it wasn’t a success,” he said. “But they built the track right along I-95, not where people were going. It didn’t even go to downtown Miami. It still doesn’t.” #

Though Mica is working on that plan to extend the Tri-Rail to connect with rail going into downtown Miami, that’s still a year away, he said, and will cost substantially more per mile than the SunRail system. #

The Central Florida commuter rail system is so well designed, he said, that parts of the Tri-Rail system may soon attempt to mirror it and improve economic viability. #

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