I am grateful to Josh at Empirical Polk for his embellishment of my post on the CSX main lines that cross only in Polk County. I think Josh is entirely correct that the crossing I first cited is not the big crossing. Instead, and I’m waiting on CSX to confirm this, I think it actually happens dead in the heart of Lakeland, just off Lake Wire, not half-a-mile from where I work in downtown.

This map shows that spot.

But, as you can see, there’s not a classic crossing. Rather, the more western S-line and more eastern A-line run together on a single east-west line that runs through downtown Lakeland over to Winter Haven.

With that in mind, consider this: CSX is planning to run virtually all its freight traffic in Florida on the S-line into the huge new integrated logistics center. It’s freeing up the A-line for a potential communter rail system. There’s only one route those trains on the S-line can take if they’re heade for the big new center, if I’m reading the map correctly. That route runs smack through downtown Lakeland.

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