Florida East Coast Railway

In March 2005, Robert Anestis stepped down as CEO of Florida East Coast Industries after a four-year stint, allowing Adolfo Henriquez to assume that position, with John D. McPherson, a long-time railroad man, continuing as president of the railway itself. By this time, the railroad had long since made peace with its workers.

In late 2007, in a move surprising to many employees and railroad industry observers alike, the FEC was purchased for over US$3 billion (including non-rail assets) by Fortress Investment Group, the principal investors who also control short line railroad operator RailAmerica. John Giles was named chairman, and David Rohal was named president. Both men were also principals with major responsibilities at RailAmerica as well, although the ownership of FEC and RailAmerica were not linked corporately, and the spinoff of RailAmerica as a publicly traded company did not include FEC.

In May 2010, James Hertwig was named as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company effective July 1, 2010. Hertwig had recently retired from CSX, most recently having served as president of CSX Intermodal, one of CSX's major operating units.[13]

James Hertwig retired as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company effective December 31, 2017, and was replaced by Nathan Asplund as the railway was purchased by Grupo México and now manages it along with its other transport interests.

The Florida East Coast Railway operates from its relocated headquarters in Jacksonville after selling the original General Office Building in St. Augustine to Flagler College in late 2006. Its trains run over nearly the same route developed by Henry Flagler; notably, the Moultrie Cutoff was built in 1925 to shorten the distance south of St. Augustine.

The FEC operations today are dominated by "intermodal" trains and unit rock (limestone) trains. Passenger service was discontinued in 1968 after labor unrest.

The company's major income-earning sources are its rock trains, transporting primarily limestone, and intermodal trains. FEC freight trains operate on precise schedules. Trains are not held for missed connections or late loadings. Most of the trains are paired so that they leave simultaneously from their starting points and meet halfway through the run and swap crews, so they are back home at the end of their runs. The FEC pioneered operation with 2 man crews with no crew districts, which they were able to start doing after the 1963 strike. The entire railroad adopted positive train control (PTC) after a fatal 1987 collision caused by a crew not obeying signaling. (PTC is a safety feature long-sought by federal safety officials for all railroads).

FEC has what is called by some a "prime" railroad right-of-way. The heavy weight of the rock trains required very good trackage and bridges. The railroad has mostly 136 pound-per-yard (66 kg/m) continuous-welded rail attached to concrete ties, which sits on a high quality granite roadbed. The entire railroad is controlled by centralized traffic control with constant radio communication. Because the railroad has only minor grades, it takes very little horsepower to pull very long trains at speed. 60 mph (97 km/h) trains are a normal FEC operating standard.

The FEC was already in the freight only business when Amtrak was created and assumed passenger operations of nearly all U.S. railroads' passenger services in 1971. Periodically, there has been speculation that the southern end of the FEC line might be used for a commuter rail service to complement the existing Tri-Rail line (which follows former CSX tracks to the west). There has also been some discussion about Amtrak or the State of Florida using FEC lines for a more direct route between Jacksonville and Miami.[14]

In March 2012 FEC Industries (not FEC railway) proposed a privately owned and operated service between Miami and Orlando along its route named All Aboard Florida. New high speed trackage would be built between Brevard County (the oceanside county east of Orlando) and Orlando International Airport. In addition to the new track, the main line is once again being expanded to double track from Brevard County to Miami (some of the bridges still have adequate width from the previous double track). In 2014 the very first beginnings of All Aboard Florida commenced with studies and actual construction of the first phase, and construction began in November 2014. In 2015, AAF announced they will operate the service under the name Brightline, since 2018 operated by Brightline, after a few delays, service on an initial stretch between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, and shortly after MiamiCentral started in January 2018 with future extensions planned towards Orlando and Tampa.

A lifeblood of the FEC is its transportation of high-grade limestone, which is used in the formulation for concrete and other construction purposes. The limestone is quarried near Miami in the "Lake Belt" area of Dade County and Broward County just west of Hialeah. The rock trains come out of the FEC yard at Medley in Miami-Dade County and the southern end of the FEC service area. Shipments currently are principally for materials dealers Titan and Rinker.

Rinker has since been sold and is now part of the multi-national Cemex. Rock train traffic dropped dramatically in 2008 with the elimination of all but one dedicated rock train. Other rock loads are now added onto other regular trains. Up until mid 2017, only one rock train remained, which is called the "unit train" and operates between Miami and City Point. Since then, rock traffic has rebounded, and the railroad has since added a second unit rock train which handles Ft. Pierce bound rock.

The intermodal traffic includes interchanged shipments with CSX and Norfolk Southern, participation in EMP container service operated by UP and Norfolk Southern, United Parcel Service (UPS) piggyback trailers, trailers going to the Wal-Mart distribution center at Fort Pierce, and intermodal shipping container traffic through the ports of Miami, Port Everglades (adjacent to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and the principal source of imports), Port of Palm Beach/Lake Worth Inlet, and Port Canaveral.

Additionally FEC offers "Hurricane Service" offering trucking companies the opportunity of having their trailers piggybacked out of Jacksonville to save the expensive cost of back-hauling empty trailers.

Starting in 2012 the FEC began an aggressive project to reopen direct rail service to the ports of Miami, and Port Everglades. This is in anticipation of the expansion of the Panama Canal and the expected increase of intermodal traffic. In 2013 the drawbridge at the Port of Miami was repaired and reactivated and trains began to roll. In 2014 a new container shuttle was put into operation between Hialeah Yard and the Port of Miami. Also in 2014, the new rail lines into Port Everglades were opened allowing direct access for FEC trains into the port. Further a new transfer facility in Hialeah Yard will add additional intermodal transfer between trains, trucks, and planes. This facility will open by 2015. Additional capacity improvements are planned at other ports as well as the FEC's mainline.

Produce being loaded into FEC refrigerated cars in the 1950s

The FEC also hauls normal "manifest" freight to and from points along its right of way. These cars are hauled on whatever train is going that way, so intermodal and rock trains routinely have some manifest cars in their consists.

Additionally, the FEC currently transports Tropicana Products "Juice Train" cars to and from one of the company's processing facilities located on the "K" Line. The Juice Train concept was developed by Tropicana founder Anthony T. Rossi in conjunction with Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (a CSX predecessor) beginning in 1970.

The FEC completed its "second generation" dieselization with the purchase of 49 GP40s and GP40-2s and 11 GP38-2s, ranging in the 400's. Most of these locomotives have been extensively rebuilt with others being retired. In 2002, the FEC acquired 20 ex-UP SD40-2s, which were numbered in 700s. These ex UP locomotives remained in their original colors with FEC markings, however as of 2014 seven of them have been repainted into the "retro" Champion scheme. As of 2015 the majority of these were leased to CSXT. In 2006 The FEC leased four SD70M-2's numbered in the 100 series (100-103) in a blue and yellow livery known by fans as the "Classic" or the "Alaskan" schemes. In 2009 when RailAmerica came into the picture, they added four more SD70M-2's (104-107) in the Red, Pearl & Blue scheme which was the standard RailAmerica scheme. That brought the total SD70M-2 count to eight. Seeking further power improvements, in 2009, the FEC leased three CITX SD70M-2's making the count now of 11 of the big EMD's. These locomotives were numbered 140, 141 and 142, all are big blue and white striped units. All of the SD70M-2's served on the railway until the end of 2014 when they were replaced with new power. The fleet GP38-2s are used principally for yard and road switching as well as the occasional local. The others are used as available in road service. Some test runs have been made to observe the effect on fuel consumption of dynamic braking and combinations of new and old power. In 2014 the railway purchased 24 GE ES44C4s, the first General Electric and AC Powered locomotives to be owned by the FEC. All of the GE's have been delivered by the end of 2014 with the first run on November 21, 2014. In 2015 the railway will begin to experiment with LNG fuel that will help with costs and efficiency. With the arrival of the GE's the majority of the FEC's SD40-2's and a number of the SD70M-2's have been temporarily leased to CSXT. As of year end 2017, all SD70M-2's have been returned to their respective leasing companies. Most of the SD40-2's will remain on the FEC with the exception of leases to other companies.

FEC is the only US railroad actively using Liquefied Natural Gas to power its 24 dual fuel GE ES44C4 locomotives.,[15] a much cleaner fuel than diesel. The locomotives are used in pairs with an LNG fuel tender between them.[16]

In 2005 FEC owned and operated:[17]

• 351 miles (565 km) of mainline track between Jacksonville and Miami, Florida
• 277 miles (446 km) of branch, switching, and other secondary track
• 158 miles (254 km) of yard track

Flagler Development owned and operated:

• 64 buildings
• 7.4 million rentable square feet

In 1925 FEC carried 979 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 261 million passenger miles on (at year-end) 849 miles of road and 1411 miles of track; corresponding numbers for 1970 were 1345, 0, 554 and 1058.

Historical marker

Historical marker

At its greatest extent, Florida East Coast Railway's Main Line ran from Jacksonville via Miami to Key West, a distance of over 500 miles.[26] Today, the Main Line continues to run from Jacksonville to Miami.

Originally, the main line deviated from its current route to serve East Palatka on the St. Johns River. The line ran from St. Augustine southwest to East Palatka, then turned southeast to Bunnell. In 1925, the Moultrie Cutoff was built from St. Augustine directly south to Bunnell to bypass East Palatka.[7] Track to East Palatka remained in service but was downgraded to branch status and is now largely abandoned. The milepost numbers on the main line still reflect the original route, causing the mileposts to abruptly jump from 65 to 88 in Bunnell.[27]

The main line was double-tracked between Jacksonville and Miami in 1926 in response to the Florida land boom of the 1920s. Automatic Block Signals were also installed at the same time. The main line would be restored to single track in the 1970s due to changing rail operations and the absence of passenger operations, though double track is currently being reinstalled south of Cocoa to accommodate Brightline.[7][8]

The Key West Extension was removed in 1935 with Florida City subsequently becoming the new southern terminus. The Overseas Highway (US 1) largely runs along the former Key West Extension right of way today.[28] In 1979, the main line was removed between Miami and Kendall. Track from Kendall to Florida City remained and became part of the Little River Branch, but was then abandoned in 1989. Miami-Dade County’s elevated Metrorail, the South Dade Transitway, and the South Dade Rail Trail now run on the former right of way between Miami and Florida City.[12]

The Kissimmee Valley Line, also known as the Okeechobee Branch, ran from just south of New Smyrna Beach through the Kissimmee Valley roughly paralleling the main line.  Branching off the Main Line at Edgewater, it headed southwest to Maytown, where it crossed the Enterprise Branch.  From Maytown, it turned south and headed through largely rural agricultural land to Okeechobee, a small town on the north side of Lake Okeechobee. South of Holopaw, the line roughly parallels US 441.[29]

Construction began at Maytown on February 25, 1911 and was completed to Okeechobee in 1915.[30] The line was extended north from Maytown to Edgewater (just south of New Smyrna Beach) in 1916 to have its own connection to the Main Line.[31][32]

By 1929, the branch was extended from Okeechobee southeast and around the eastern side of Lake Okeechobee.  It passed through Belle Glade and South Bay before terminating at Lake Harbor on the south side of the lake at the Miami Canal.  Here, it connected with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's branch from Harrisburg.[32] The Florida East Coast Railway considered extending the line further south to Hialeah to have an alternative route for the main line, but the line was never built past Lake Harbor.[30]

In 1947, the Kissimmee Valley Line was abandoned from Maytown to Marcy since it ended up not generating the agricultural traffic it had hoped too.[32]  At the same time, the remaining line south of Marcy to Lake Harbor was connected to the Main Line at Fort Pierce via new track known as the Glades Cutoff.  This segment is still in service as the Lake Harbor Branch.[30]

The Little River Branch connects to the mainline near Little River and heads south west toward Hialeah, where it turns south towards Hialeah Yard and Miami International Airport. The line sees significant freight traffic since Hialeah Yard is FEC's main yard for the Miami area. The branch ends just south of the airport at Oleander Junction, where it connects with CSX's Homestead Subdivision and the South Florida Rail Corridor.[33] An industrial spur also runs northwest from the line near Medley.

The Little River Branch was historically a freight bypass around downtown Miami when the FEC mainline continued south to Homestead and Florida City. The branch continued south past the airport and reconnected with the mainline at Kendall. Part of the abandoned segment south of the airport is currently planned to become the Ludlam Trail linear park.[34] The line was also realigned in the 1980s to accommodate the extension of Runway 9/27 at Miami International Airport.

The former Palm Beach branch once extended from the mainline in West Palm Beach east a short distance over Lake Worth Lagoon onto Palm Beach Island. Henry Flagler built the spur to deliver passengers to his two hotels on the island: the Royal Poinciana and The Breakers. The branch’s wooden trestle over Lake Worth Lagoon also included a pedestrian walkway.[35]

The spur was removed in 1902 at the insistence of Flagler’s wife, Mary, who complained about the noise and smoke coming from trains affecting them at their nearby mansion Whitehall. The trestle became a toll bridge, which was replaced by the Flagler Memorial Bridge in 1938 (which carried State Road A1A until 2017 when a new bridge replaced the 1938 span).[36] Much of the former right of way of this branch is still owned by the Town of Palm Beach.[37]

The former Fellsmere Branch ran from the main line at Sebastian west to Fellsmere. It began operating in 1909 and was run by the Fellsmere Farms Company. In 1924, the line became known as the Trans-Florida Central Railroad.[38]

The Lake Harbor Branch (K Branch) runs from Fort Pierce in St. Lucie County to Lake Harbor in Palm Beach County. It basically serves the sugar farms in Palm Beach and Hendry Counties. It branches off the main line in Fort Pierce and heads southwest to Marcy, where it turns south along Lake Okeechobee. At Lake Harbor, it connects to the South Cental Florida Express's main line (a former CSX branch). South Central Florida Express began leasing the line from FEC in 1998 and now fully operates the line from milepost K 15 south. FEC serves local customers on the line from milepost K 15 north, with South Central Florida Express having trackage rights from there into Fort Pierce Yard on the main line.[39] They also have a car haulage arrangement with FEC to Jacksonville to interchange with CSX and Norfolk Southern.

The Lake Harbor Branch was once the southernmost segment of the Kissimmee Valley Line until 1947, when the Glades Cutoff from Marcy to Fort Pierce was built and the rest of the Kissimmee Valley Line was abandoned.

The former Enterprise Branch (E Branch) was built in 1885 by the Atlantic Coast, St. Johns and Indian River Railroad and leased to the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railroad, part of the Plant System. Initially, the westernmost five miles (8 km) served as a connection from Enterprise Junction to Enterprise, a port for steamboat traffic down the St. Johns River. Later, the line was built through Osteen, Kalamazoo, and Mims to Titusville. The Enterprise Branch also crossed the Kissimmee Valley Line at a location known as Maytown.

FEC Railway crossing at Maytown, Florida

A steam locomotive pulled the first train over the line onto the wharf on the Indian River at Titusville on the afternoon of December 30, 1885, and greatly accelerated the transportation of passengers, produce, seafood, and supplies to and from central Florida. While Titusville thrived thanks to this new transportation connection, Enterprise lost stature as a steamboat port, since Henry Plant's railroad paralleled the St. Johns River and greatly reduced travel times to Jacksonville.

During the winter of 1894–95, a widespread freeze hit twice, decimating the citrus crop and ruining that part of Florida's economy. This allowed Henry Flagler to acquire the line at a discount to piece together what became the Florida East Coast Railway.

The track of the E Branch at one time had been uprooted as far as Aurantia, about five miles (8 km) northwest of Mims, ending directly under the Interstate 95 overpass and has been abandoned. The crossing gates and signals were removed before the summer 2004 hurricanes and the track is being removed by a steel salvage company. As of 2008 the track has been completely removed up to the connection with the current FEC mainline in Titusville.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection took ownership of the rail bed on December 31, 2007. The corridor will become Florida's longest rails-to-trails project.[40] This rail line would have been suited to recreational railroad use by such groups as the North American Rail Passenger Car Owners' Association assuming a representative who is local to the area could have been located.

This former branch, from Blue Spring on the St. Johns River via Orange City to the main line in New Smyrna Beach, was built by the Blue Spring, Orange City and Atlantic Railroad. In the mid-1880s it became the Atlantic and Western Branch of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway, which changed its name to the Florida East Coast Railway in 1895. It may have been the Atlantic and Western Railroad in between. The line was in use until 1930.

The railroad from Tocoi to Tocoi Junction, outside St. Augustine, was built by the St. Johns Railway. The Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway took it over by 1894, and changed its name to the Florida East Coast Railway in 1895. The line was abandoned by 1917; it was later used for SR 95, which became SR 214 at some time after the 1945 Florida State Road renumbering, and is now CR 214.

The railroad from Flagler Beach to Dorena, north of Bunnell, was built by the Lehigh Portland Cement Company in 1953. The line connected to the Lehigh Portland Cement Company Plant located near Flagler Beach. The line was abandoned in 1963, after a deadly strike erupted in that year that closed the massive plant. The site of the old plant was where some of the monorail beams were assembled for Walt Disney World in the early 1970s. The route is now part of the rails to trails system. The plant has been demolished outside of one smokestack that will become a "lighthouse" for a new development. Some remains of the yard can be found in the woods near the eastern end of the current Lehigh rail trail.

The former San Mateo Branch ran from the main line just southeast of East Palatka south to San Mateo. The branch was built in 1892.[32]

The railroad from Palatka to Moultrie Junction, outside St. Augustine, was built by the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway. The Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway took it over by 1894, and changed its name to the Florida East Coast Railway in 1895. The line was the main route until the construction of the Moultrie Cutoff in 1925. After the completion of the Moultrie Cutoff, this segment became known as the Palatka Branch (P Branch). There was also a spur with a bridge across the St. Johns River into Palatka, where there was a junction with the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway and the Florida Southern Railway.[41] The bridge over the river was removed in 1950, and the rest of the line was later abandoned in 1988 and all rail was removed to a point just west of I-95. In 2001, rail service resumed up to this point and track was rehabilitated when new industries were located there. A daily local serves the eastern end of the line today known as the Wilber Wright Industrial Lead. Some of the right-of-way is now the Palatka-to-St. Augustine State Trail.[42]

This was originally built by the Jacksonville and Atlantic Railroad, a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge line from Jacksonville to Pablo Beach (now Jacksonville Beach). In late 1899 it was bought by Henry Flagler, who had the line converted to 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge and extended it north along the coast to Mayport. The new branch opened in March 1900 and was abandoned in October 1932.