south central florida express

South Central Florida Express, Incorporated (originally known as the South Central Florida Railroad and run by the Brandywine Valley Railroad until September 17, 1994), is a short line railroad in southern Florida run by U.S. Sugar. It serves customers at 26 locations. U.S. Sugar, the only sugar company in the continental U.S. to transport sugarcane by rail, owns private trackage to take the cane to the SCFE. From there, the SCFE runs around both sides of Lake Okeechobee. The west side connects to CSX at Sebring, and the east side connects to CSX at Marcy and the Florida East Coast Railway at Fort Pierce, with trackage rights to CSX and Norfolk Southern at Jacksonville, Florida.

History

The 87-mile west connection, west of Lake Harbor, was a CSX line (Sebring Subdivision along the mainline to the sugar fields, and Okeelanta Subdivision on the spur to Lake Harbor), originally part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. It was bought on June 2, 1990 by the Brandywine Valley Railroad, a Lukens Steel subsidiary, and sold to U.S. Steel on September 17, 1994. The 71-mile east connection, east of Lake Harbor, is still owned by the Florida East Coast Railway as their Fort Pierce-Lake Harbor Branch (also known as the K-Branch). It was part of the original Kissimmee Valley Line to Lake Okeechobee south of near Marcy, and a newer cutoff north of there. On March 2, 1998, South Central Florida Express and the Florida East Coast Railway entered into a car haulage arrangement, allowing SCFE to use the branch and the mainline to interchange with CSX and Norfolk Southern at Jacksonville, Florida.

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