{"id":47317,"date":"2025-11-15T02:32:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T02:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/47317\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T02:32:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T02:32:06","slug":"central-florida-leaders-work-to-bring-sunrail-service-to-mco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/47317\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Florida leaders work to bring SunRail service to MCO"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 According to area leaders,\u00a0Orlando International Airport<\/a> will see an overhaul of changes at terminals, parking and other operations in the next five to 10 years. <\/p>\n

But one project still even further off in the distance \u2014 the expansion of SunRail<\/a>, to finally bring service to the airport.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

Florida Department of Transportation officials say the project to bring SunRail to Orlando International Airport could cost upwards of $4 billion
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FDOT is currently working on a study to determine the feasibility, cost and environmental considerations for the project
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The Sunshine Corridor would connect the existing rails to the airport and attractions area
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Officials said the PD&E study will take a few years to complete<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the city of Orlando approved the transportation master plan, which does include some funding plans for a SunRail expansion to the airport. But a completed conceptual\u00a0design for the project is still likely years away.<\/p>\n

According to information from the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, about 57 million people passed through Orlando International Airport in 2024, and those numbers continue to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to Warped Tour, me and my husband,\u201d said Natalia Wheaton, who visiting Orlando from Texas. <\/p>\n

No matter why people are in town, everyone needs transportation to and from the airport, and Wheaton said she would “probably just Uber.”<\/p>\n

Instead of sitting in traffic, the Central Florida Commuter Rail System, known as, SunRail\u00a0might be an option in the future. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, if they made it user-friendly for people that are not even from here, easy to understand the maps and stuff and how to get around, yeah for sure,\u201d Wheaton said.<\/p>\n

The project, known as the Sunshine Corridor<\/a>, would connect the rail system with Orlando International Airport and the attractions area.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we look at the forecasted growth, even with expanded roadways, we will need other ways to get high-occupancy modes of transportation to the airport, and that is one of those options we are looking at,\u201d said GOAA CEO Lance Lyttle.<\/p>\n

Airport officials say they know this project is needed, but it takes partnerships across Central Florida. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat Sunshine Corridor is so critical to continuing to connect our entire region, and we are working on it,”\u00a0said Amy Lockhart, the chair of the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission. “That PD&E study is going on, so we are excited about that too.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Officials with the Florida Department of Transportation said the project could cost upwards of $4 billion, and could be funded a variety of different ways. Right now, FDOT is currently working on a study to determine the feasibility, cost and environmental considerations for the project. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we are even planning, it means that we see that as a need in the community,\u201d Lockhart said.<\/p>\n

The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority announced plans for major updates to allow better access the airport, but officials said the SunRail\u00a0service is a key to the success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 According to area leaders,\u00a0Orlando International Airport will see an overhaul of changes at terminals, parking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[274,2173,28,115,1335,139,141,140,9429,278,729,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-47317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-top-stories","9":"tag-app-traffic-transit","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-orange-county","13":"tag-orlando","14":"tag-orlando-headlines","15":"tag-orlando-news","16":"tag-sarah-winkelmann","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-traffic","19":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}