New high-speed rail station at Disney World might open at same time as Orlando airport station
A new high-speed rail station will open at Walt Disney World and link with SunRail’s Meadow Wood Station the same time Virgin Trains USA opens its Orlando airport station, the company’s president told the Orlando Sentinel.
Virgin Trains is planning to expand its line from Miami, Fort Lauderdale
“It’s our expectation to get it done and to build out to Disney,” Virgin Trains president Patrick Goddard told the publication. He added that is is possible that can happen as they open the Orlando International Airport station.
Goddard said the Disney station “would integrate with their transportation system, hotels
This would have a huge impact
The link to the airport may not have a huge impact on Disney since Disney now operates a free Disney Magical Express bus service from Orlando International Airport to Disney World for those staying on the Walt Disney World resort property. It would be doubtful Disney would make any changes due to the rail line connection.
Eventually, Virgin Trains intends to take the high-speed rail line to downtown Tampa, which then might offer some ease to people coming to Disney from Tampa.
The route now is open from Miami, to Fort Lauderdale, to West Palm Beach.
The expansion has the route going north along the coast and turning west near Cocoa toward Orlando airport.
From the airport, the route would take it to the Meadows Wood SunRail station off of Route 417. It would then follow Route 417 to I-4 with a stop at Disney World and then follow I-4 to Tampa.
Virgin Trains says it has spoke with Disney about this, but no more specifics about location were discussed.
Construction from South to Central Florida could take 30 to 36 months and start soon, the company said.
How much would it cost?
The company has not provided any possible costs.