A potential SunRail station coming to DeLand is back in the news with renewed energy. The project fell off a few years ago due to a lack of funding. Currently SunRail tracks run 61 miles, only coming as far north as DeBary. A 12 mile segment to make DeLand the system’s northern terminus would cost more than $75 million.
The cost would include adding a double set of tracks, installing new signals, improving rail crossing and building a new SunRail depot or adding a station adjacent to the current DeLand Amtrak Station.
DeLand residents who use the SunRail could cut 30 minutes or more off of their commute with the addition of a station in DeLand.
The request from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) came with only 5 day window of response. County officials committed to pay one quarter of the expenses – $19.3 million. FDOT will pay 25 percent and the other 50 percent will be federally funded.
The original agreement between Volusia County and FDOT in 2007 included two phases which included a station in DeLand to have been in operation already.
However, Volusia County officials are asking FDOT to not hand off operational control, along with maintenance costs, to the local Central Florida partners until 2021. The other four partners in the SunRail projects are Seminole, Orange, Osceola counties and the City of Orlando. SunRail’s current annual budget is around $40 million, which is covered by FDOT. However, the transfer would shift those costs to the local partners.
DeLand residents have been anxious about the station coming for quite some time. Hopefully, this renewed interest in funding will make that a reality sooner than later.