SunRail schedule for a new era derailed by COVID-19

Central Florida’s SunRail commuter rail system was gathering steam this year en route to a new era of local control.

Among the progress to SunRail’s next phase, state and local leaders were putting an end to a fracas with Volusia County, agreeing not to extend service to DeBary as originally planned.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings was stumping hard for a sales tax increase to, in part, fuel SunRail growth, raising hopes its trains would expand to longer hours, weekend service and more cities.

Local partners were engaging with the Department of Transportation over terms and timing for taking over the finances and operation of the system.

And then the coronavirus outbreak made SunRail all but vanish as a leading topic of public concern, and as perhaps even less of a preferred choice for commuting along a corridor that follows Interstate 4 from south Volusia County to south of Kissimmee in

Osceola County.

Up in the air more than ever is when SunRail will become a local system and how it will be paid for.

“It’s not going to be the date that’s on the contract, which is May 2021,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, the chairman of the SunRail commission, a position that rotates among members from Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties and the city.

For the first time since early this year, SunRail’s commission of mayors and commissioners will meet Thursday to consider a changed landscape. The commission is preparing for the takeover of SunRail, but also has an advisory role for the Department of Transportation’s current operation of the system.

Among what’s emerged with the relaxing of the COVID-19 sheltering orders is the question of who still wants to ride on a commuter train that had struggled chronically during its six years of operation to gain popularity.