Number Of Trains Double

Click title for full story. Number of trains on local tracks nearly doubles By MATT DIXON, DAILY SUN WILDWOOD — Since last April, the number of freight trains traveling through Sumter and Marion counties has nearly doubled, according to officials with CSX Corp.Early last year, CSX, a Jacksonville-based rail line, told Wildwood City Manager Jim Stevens that 15 CSX freight trains travel on the “S-line” through the city on a daily basis; by October that number had jumped to 27, according to CSX spokesman Gary Sease, who provided no explanation for the nearly 50 percent increase in freight traffic in less than six months. The significant increase likely will not be the city’s last.In November, the state of Florida purchased nearly 62 miles of track from CSX. That strip of track stretches from DeLand in Volusia County to Poinciana in Osceola County, and will be used to help establish a commuter-rail system through Central Florida, a taxpayer-funded project aimed at helping alleviate traffic congestion in and around the Orlando area.