Passenger Trains > FL BrightLine confirms new stops

Previously discussed, but of interest. Three stations between Miami and West Palm Beach (75 miles) seems to defeat the idea of higher speed rail.

But it agrees perfectly with a possible plan to let Tri-Rail run local commuter service.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/transportation/fl-bz-brightline-forecasts-two-million-riders-20191023-743qyqxt2naencz7tjsvrmypje-story.html

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I personally think Brightline wants to operate Coastal Link themselves. Municipalities paying for the construction of stations is a start. Miami-Dade county commissioners have also not ruled out the possibility of subsidizing ticket prices.

These stations make sense from a number of understandings.  The Port of Miami will not be an added station on the current Miami - West Palm Beach line, but a new terminal beyond the present line.  The other two stations match well with potential for travel to/from both Orlando and the port.  

What I think people not from the area don't understand is just awful the traffic in and around Miami is.  Massive highway expansion is continuing but during construction will result in more grief and upon completion will not match the projected volume of traffic.  Most of it will also be toll-road. Virgin's proximity to major destination draws makes it a much better alternative to current TriRail in the service area. Add in the convenience of not having to find and pay for parking in city centers and the train makes more and more sense. 

The addition of the Port of Miami terminal, at one of the busiest passenger ports in Florida, will allow for many new options for passengers, again avoiding the issues of longterm parking, or long taxi rides, or whatever. 

Finally some (small) detail about the Port of Miami station - it says they will initially support two round trips per day.  As others have pointed out, there is no direct way to get from Miami Central to the port without a reverse move.  Are they planning on the port-bound trains bypassing Miami Central altogether, or doing what will be a fairly time-consuming reverse move?

As for the Aventura and Boca stops - they make total sense, other than the fact that it will slow down trips a bit.  There is a large and affluent population in both of these areas that currently would not use Brightline due to the lack of a convenient station. Both stations are well-spaced, being roughly halfway between the existing stations.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Previously discussed, but of interest. Three
> stations between Miami and West Palm Beach (75
> miles) seems to defeat the idea of higher speed
> rail.

79 mph is normal speed rail.

There is no point to operating a service people won't use because it doesn't stop where they want to go.  Trains require numerous intermediate stops to develop ridership to its fullest potential.

There's nothing wrong with stopping every 20 to 30 miles or so with a train at major destinations or orgins.

rbenko Wrote:
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> Finally some (small) detail about the Port of
> Miami station - it says they will initially
> support two round trips per day.  As others have
> pointed out, there is no direct way to get from
> Miami Central to the port without a reverse move.
>  Are they planning on the port-bound trains
> bypassing Miami Central altogether, or doing what
> will be a fairly time-consuming reverse move?
>(SNIP)

My understanding is these will be direct to Port trains, skipping Miami Central.

The Miami Herald had a small piece about the huge plans for Miami Cruise Port a few weeks ago.  Three new ship terminals are in the works.  The new Virgin Cruise terminal will apparently face the mainland, behind / west of Terminal J. That abuts the FEC Port lead right of way. 

So, it would seem that the rai passenger terminal will go there.  Several reports say there will be shuttles to the other terminals, which fits into the picture.

One original rendering had a short stub pier pushing out into Biscayne Bay, just east of Terminal J. With a short rail spur out onto the pier.  That may be obsolete, if this new location holds.

Any possibility that a station could be built to serve Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport and Port Everglades? Or would that be too close to current BrightLine Fort Lauderdale station? Just get a taxi to and from those locations?

nm2320 Wrote:
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> Any possibility that a station could be built to
> serve Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport and Port
> Everglades? Or would that be too close to current
> BrightLine Fort Lauderdale station? Just get a
> taxi to and from those locations?

A Ft. Lauderdale Airport station would be pretty ideal for intermodal transportation - the FEC main passes right next to the terminal buildings, so unlike the TriRail station, no shuttle bus would be required.  In fact, looking at Google Maps, it seems the FEC main was shifted a bit east when the airport was built (and for no discernible reason I've been able to ascertain, Brightline trains travels fairly slowly through the airport).  A station there would also be quite convenient for Port Everglades cruise ships, being less than two miles from the piers.  

As for it actually happening, I've read about the possibility of one, but nothing seems imminent.
 

Yes, there's lots of talk about an airport station at FLL. The FEC main goes under one runway.

But, I don't believe BL owns any land for development there. That's one reason I'm curious about these new, town paid for stations. They are outside the BL model.

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There appears to be two Brightline/Virgin Trains USA models for stations.

The first model is build a station and have revenue-producing real estate as part of the station area. We have seen this at MiamiCentral, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach.

The second model seems to be have local government contribute to the cost of the station complex, such as PortMiami, Aventura, and Boca Raton. Government kicks in to get the facility built - just like airports - but Brightline/Virgin pays to operate the facilities.

This seems like two good approaches, as the first approach creates real estate revenues as well as farebox revenues, and the second approach creates additional farebox revenues without the large investment of the first approach.

As far as adding stations add to trip times, it makes much more sense to have stations where passengers want to board versus the Amtrak model of insisting passengers go out of their way to get to a station which is convenient for Amtrak. The Brightline/Virgin station amenities, onboard amenities, and overall quality of service will more than make up for a few minutes of lost travel time due to station dwell time.

We know that for the majority of passengers, the most important factor is arriving at their destination at the scheduled time, not whether or not it takes a slightly longer period of time to get to the destination. Schedule predictability is critical.

As far as the "first" and "last" mile concepts, in South Florida and the coming Orlando stations, there is plenty of local transit plus ride sharing such as Uber and Lyft to make getting to and from trains much easier than in many other areas of the country. South Florida truly is ideal to start and prove the concepts of Brightline/Virgin and Las Vegas to Southern California is the ideal second location for the same reasons. We know Virgin is already talking about service all the way into Los Angeles versus stopping at Victorville as DesertXPress planned to do.
 

Any word yet on when Tri Rail trains will begin serving Miami Central station?

nm2320 Wrote:
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> Any possibility that a station could be built to
> serve Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport and Port
> Everglades? Or would that be too close to current
> BrightLine Fort Lauderdale station? Just get a
> taxi to and from those locations?

It's such a let down they don't have an airport stop. Go to Amsterdam, Paris, Dubai, you can walk from the plane to the train, after a short stop in customs. 

ABB Wrote:
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> Any word yet on when Tri Rail trains will begin
> serving Miami Central station?

That date has slipped several times. There's a sign in Miami Central which announces winter of 2019, so we will see.

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