In the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about near-high-speed rail transportation in Central Florida.
We’ve been following the saga of the Brightline train that’s being built throughout the state and was originally supposed to have a station at Disney World. Those plans fell through, but now it looks like Universal Orlando is getting its own option!
There’s currently a plan in place to link Orlando International Airport, SunRail commuter train, Orange County Convention Center, Universal Orlando Resort, and the I-Drive tourism district. This new form of transportation would connect some very important areas of town and offer new opportunities for workers employees commuting to work at major spots in Orlando.
But now, Universal Orlando is stepping up to the plate with a new move to help finance the plans. According to the Orlando Sentinel, “Universal Orlando Resort filed an application with Orange County to form a quasi-governmental body known as a community development district.” It would be called the Shingle Creek Transit Utility Community Development District and would overlay the single property of Universal Orlando, making them the sole fee-payer in the district.
This would be a key catalyst in helping finance 11 miles of rail from the airport to the convention center for SunRail. That track could also be leased out to Brightline for use. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has called this the “jobs train” that would funnel tens of thousands of area residents to employment at the airport and tourism centers, doubling SunRail ridership.
“This train is an opportunity for people that live north, south, east or west to be able to commute to work, to commute to the airport, as well as carry both residents and visitors on the trains and connect them with the convention center and downtown Orlando,” said John Sprouls, who is the executive vice president and chief administrative at Universal Parks & Resorts.
“We think it’s the right solution now and we think a number of factors have come together to give us the opportunity to make this a reality,” Sprouls said. “I have been in the community 26 years and people have been talking about rail solutions for Central Florida since before I got here. We think this one actually will work and we think we can actually make this one happen.”
Keep in mind that the Orange County Convention Center station would be very near to Universal’s under-construction theme park, Epic Universe. This would be a game-changer for those traveling to the theme park from the airport.
We’re interested to see what steps come next in the completion of this project, so stay tuned to AllEars for updates. This could be a great opportunity for the Central Florida area and would definitely make an impact on tourism in the future.
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Universal will fund and own 11 miles of track that would be leased back to Brightline. This will allow Universal to control and deny any connections in the area to any Disney locations. This will be good only for Universal lovers and doubly bad for Disney fans as this will essentially lock Disney out of access to Brightline in the Orlando area.