ORLANDO, Fla. – As tens of thousands of people packed around Lake Eola Wednesday for the City of Orlando’s annual Fourth of July fireworks display, SunRail’s downtown stations sat empty.

  • Many upset by Sunrail’s Fourth of July closure
  • Decision to close decided by local sponsors
  • Operation hours to extend after Kissimmee line opens

SunRail does not operate on weekends or holidays, a schedule that seems to disappoint many.

Many posted comments on SunRail’s Facebook page, advocating future rail service on weekends and holidays.

“I would it use it more often if I had the weekend opportunity to ride,” said Brian McFadden, who took SunRail Thursday with his two sons. “We thought about coming on the train before, but being it only runs Monday through Friday I was looking for a weekend time to do things with the kids and didn’t have the opportunity.”

While no one from SunRail or Florida Department of Transportation were available Thursday, the rail agency did say in a statement online that the decision to close service on Fourth of July was “decided upon by local funding partners from Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola Counties, the City of Orlando and the Florida Department of Transportation.”

In the past, event sponsors paid for weekend service.

SunRail spends approximately $16 million to operate 36 trains, carrying an average of 3,100 passengers per day between Sand Lake Road in Orange County, and north to DeBary in Volusia County.

A member of the Central Florida Community Rail Commission told Spectrum News 13 Thursday that service will increase once the new Kissimmee line is open, and expects SunRail service to expand to seven days a week once the new intermodal station at Orlando International Airport opens in 2021.

That is also where BrightLine plans to operate a high speed rail service, linking OIA with Miami, with stops in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.