Passenger Trains > Update on Brightline

Brightline sent out an email this morning to those who are booked on their first day of service (Friday 9/22) changing some of the times of reservation that were booked.

They were advertising and booking on previous dates but had to delay the start of the service 3 times since August.  Their original published schedule showed they were running 16 trains per day between Miami and Orlando.  Last night they changed the number of trains between these two cities from 16 per day to 5 per day MIA-ORL and 6 per day from ORL-MIA.  They also sent out an additional email announcing the grand opening of their Orlando station which is located at Terminal C of the Orlando airport for Friday September 22.

My assumption is, they are short of qualified crews but did not want to delay the service further or they need more time during the day hours to finish some minor maintenance?.  Not sure if they plan on adding more service between these two cities in the future or if they are waiting for bookings to indicate the need for more service?  I will be traveling on the inaugural run and will report on this real-time from the train.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/23 17:34 by amtrakbill.

I am riding in November from Miami to Orlando and I checked the schedule for my dates just now.  There are 16 trains available in each direction at that time.

So I think you are probably right.  Last minute details, crew qualifications and training, etc.

BrightLine has been running higher speed (50 mph range) testing in Hobe Sound and Tequesta lately.

Saw Orange and Green on Tuesday.

Flaggers are still in place on several crossings, but not all. That tells me they don't have final sign off on gate approaches.

Posted from Android

The  future  looks  good. Get  the  lift  bridge  situation  resolved.
  Hard  to  believe  there is no interest in passenger  rail in the  traffic  choked Orlando   to  Ft. Meyers/ Naples  area.

cutboy1958 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The  future  looks  good. Get  the  lift
>  bridge  situation  resolved.
>   Hard  to  believe  there is no interest in
> passenger  rail in the  traffic  choked Orlando
>   to  Ft. Meyers/ Naples  area.

Didn't they sue themselves out of a station?

BrightLine's arrangements with Uber for local "final mile" passenger drop off in Miami seems to be working very well.  I've hears several people mention it in the past few weeks.

People often say that no rail passenger service operates without public subsidy because no such operation can make a profit.  Does Brightline view itself as an exception or, in one way or another, are taxpayer dollars involved here?

Macster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> cutboy1958 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The  future  looks  good. Get  the  lift
> >  bridge  situation  resolved.
> >   Hard  to  believe  there is no interest
> in
> > passenger  rail in the  traffic  choked
> Orlando
> >   to  Ft. Meyers/ Naples  area.
>
> Didn't they sue themselves out of a station?

Ft Myers and Naples are on the other side of the state. Might take Brightline a few decades to get there.

I think Brightline and the State of Florida worked well together allowing the state to do work that helped both highways and Brightline at the same time.  There were a number of bridges built to accommodate Brightline all the while helping with improving highway right of ways at the same time.  Someone could say that Brightline received government help to build this line but it was more like Brightline received government cooperation to build the line.  The right of way from the airport to Cocoa FL which is next to the Beach Line expressway (route 528) is being leased by Brightline from the turnpike commission.  This is the type of cooperation Brightline needed to make this project feasible. 

Terminal C at the Orlando International airport is a beautiful and spacious structure that the Orlando Airport Authority built so they can lease the space to the International air carriers, Brightline, and in the future Sun Rail.  Brightline is paying for these things and are not receiving free handouts for the most part.  I know they applied for some infrastructure money for their expansion to Tampa and in California but the money is there to apply for and it's being put to good use by Brightline.  Because Brightline is not a government entity the money they spend is probably being spent wisely once it's received.

Others may chime in who know more about the total project but I believe in general terms my account no subsides is accurate. 

At least they're finally gonna do this, still wondering on the Vegas extension, haven't heard much from that except for the land they bought!

BrightLine took advantage of several tranches of public purpose bond proceeds backed by the state. These offer resources at better terms than BrightLine would obtain on its own.

We had a few TO discussions about whether this was government funding or not.

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