Jacksonville, FL
Stop on the proposed 17,000-mile maglev network. Next stop: Gainesville, FL (61.6 mi).
About Jacksonville
Jacksonville, colloquially nicknamed Jax, is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. It is the seat of government of Duval County, with which the city consolidated in 1968. It is the eleventh-most populous U.S. city and the largest city in the Southeast, with a population of 949,611 at the 2020 U.S. census.
Source: Wikipedia summary (full article). Population and facts as published there.
Cost breakdown (proposal-scale estimates — see math)
| Item | Basis | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal construction | Large city — metro tier (range $2–4B) | $3B |
| Land acquisition | Regional factor 1.5× on $200M base | $300M |
| Track: Jacksonville → Gainesville | 61.6 mi × $500M/mi | $30.8B |
| Annual operations (share) | Staffing, power, maintenance | $60M/yr |
| Stop total (excl. annual ops) | $34.1B |
Best terminal location (proposed)
The Amtrak station district on the Northbank riverfront. Jacksonville's existing long-distance rail infrastructure already converges northwest of downtown, and the Northbank riverfront offers the underused industrial parcels a terminal of this scale would need. The site would tie into the downtown Skyway people-mover and bus networks while serving the fast-growing Northside and the port workforce. As the spine's Florida entry point, it would also anchor park-and-ride demand from the I-95/I-10 interchange.
Before / after
Aerial mock-up (illustrative, not an engineering rendering). Left: the proposed site today. Right: with the maglev terminal.
- Starke, FL — Bradford County seat on the US-301 rail corridor.
- Lawtey, FL — small city on the US-301 route between Starke and Waldo.
- Waldo, FL — historic rail junction town on US-301.