ORLANDO, Fla. – SunRail service is back up and running after a fiber optic cable was damaged Thursday, disrupting train operations across Central Florida for roughly 10 hours.
Officials with the City of Orlando confirmed the fiber optic lines were damaged during a joint city and Orlando Utilities Commission project to make improvements to a lift station. According to officials, a contractor caused the damage. The cable was repaired later the same day.
In an email from staff:
“The project in the area is to conduct improvements to Lift Station 2 Force Main. Both the city and OUC are working on this project. The damage was attributed to a contractor on the project, but was mitigated that same day.”
The outage affected power and operations at nine SunRail stations, forcing the commuter rail system to limit or stop service for several hours. SunRail brought in buses to help transport riders while crews worked to restore service. For some passengers, the disruption created significant challenges.
Jules Sappeia was supposed to ride SunRail for the first time Thursday. Instead, the service interruption forced her to change her plans.
“I wasted $2 on my ticket, and I had to bike all the way back from Winter Park. It was a little unfortunate,” Sappeia said.
He said the heat was one of the toughest parts of dealing with the disruption. Other riders who depend on SunRail to get to work were also affected.
Adrian, who uses SunRail to commute to work in Seminole County, said the service interruption made him late. He also pointed to the limited public transportation options available in some parts of the county.
“Sometimes when I take the train, because the buses don’t run in the county, it makes it difficult for people to get back and forth to work over there,” he said.
News 6 went to the SunRail Operations Center in Sanford to ask officials what precautions will be taken to prevent a similar disruption and whether the system has contingency plans beyond its reliance on fiber optic communications.
News 6 was not allowed onto the property and was directed to contact SunRail’s media team. As of the latest update, SunRail had not responded to those questions. SunRail service has since been restored following the cable repair.