Passenger Trains > Inaugural Brightline Run

I'll post more pictures as we depart in 1 hour but here are some pictures of the Brightline terminal at the Orlando International Airport

Parking was easy and it was a 5 minute walk to the terminal

 

---

---

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

And we're off!

on-time 

 

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

124MPH as the servers begin breakfast service 

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

What a welcome in Stewart Florida 

the town came out with banners and balloons and two firetrucks spayed our train to welcome our passage!  Thank you Stewart !

What time did it leave Orlando and when did it arrive in Miami ? It's Stuart by the way...
The news coverage in Orlando this morning is from aboard the first northbound run which left Miami at 640AM
and is expected to arrive in Orlando at 950AM. There was a pedestrian killed in Delray Beach this morning by
a Brightline train but I don't think it involved the inaugural run(s)...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/23 05:59 by DTrainshooter.

Left Orlando at 646am and will arrive in Miami at 10:05am

its a tradition at Brightline for the employees to wave as the train departs. this tradition builds a cultural of loving the customer. Would love to see Amtrak adopt this

Here we are leaving West Palm Beach
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/23 06:59 by amtrakbill.

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Further poking around on the internet reveals that the ped strike was by a southbound train not involved in the
first run but that the incident resulted in the first northbound run leaving Miami 30 minutes late. Also, the first
southbound run passed thru Stuart at 822AM...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/23 06:09 by DTrainshooter.

I'm booked on the first revenue train from West Palm Beach to Orlando, departing at 12:03 PM. The inaugural northbound run is not for revenue passengers, just press and invited guests. 

Jim

Arrived on time 

---

---

The inaugural runs are getting a lot of local press and TV coverage in the local market of Palm Beach and Treasure Coast.

Most focus on the pleasant train ride, not the white knuckle turnpike driving.

The death in Delray Beach is mentioned, but not high lighted. Pedestrian on the tracks

Posted from Android

Great stuff - thanks for sharing!!

This is most definitely a BFD - brand-new 125mph ROW from Orlando to Cocoa, 110mph running from Cocoa to West Palm Beach, daily departures and arrivals counted in the double-digits, comfortable coaches with at-seat food and beverage service (and someday soon with cafe cars) - this is the Real Deal!!  Congrats to all Brightline personnel who pulled off this minor miracle of US passenger service.  Hopefully this model can be repeated over and over.  Can't wait to get back down to Florida and ride it to Orlando!!

Rob Benkovitz
West Palm Beach, FL

Most Excellent Coverage!  

From this and other videos I have seen, Brightline seems to make the customer experience as a top priority.. Better than most airlines at standard class, and ahem.. Amtrak - wake up.. (not counting on that!) sigh. 

Cheers,
Harry



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/23 08:21 by tracktime.

BrightLine is very customer focused.

Posted from Android

Thanks for sharing the adventure. Pretty cool.

PLEASE let Brightline run Amtrak...

Please.

Radio chatter suggests the dispatchers are running BrightLine around road freights, etc.

It appears they used the Stuart bridge for a two-fer. Held a freight, ran BrightLine around him, then ran the freight on his markers.

Only needed to close the bridge to boats once

Good!

Posted from Android

AMTRAKBILL - Great photos and report. You should be appointed
the Official Train Orders Brightline correspondent. Oh, wait...........
you already are!

The first public northbound run went in the big hole near Melbourne and took a 7 minute delay recovering. Then when we got on the new, 125 mph Cocoa-Orlando Airport segment, we never exceeded 79 mph. Arrived MCO 13 minutes late. An inquiry on the platform confirmed what I had surmised...they had a cab signal failure, which caused them to get the penalty application. Once they cut out the cab signals they were restricted to 79 mph.

The same equipment turned for the next southbound trip, and with operative cab signals on the east/south end, we did about 124 mph for much of the way from MCO to Cocoa.

Also, despite all the hype about 110 mph trains between West Palm Beach and Cocoa, we never exceeded 90 mph on either trip in that segment. 

Interestingly, it appeared as though the majority of riders were not there for an inaugural day joyride, but they actually had a non-rail purpose to their trip. Lots of suitcases and little discussion about the train that I could hear. 

Jim

just curious if Brightline has any plans to place a station or such at Port Caneveral for all the cruise ships so they dont need to use a transfer from the airport to the port. Just wondering if this was in any plaans or discussions. thanks in advance, JR

Port Canaveral is North of Cocoa
 

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL