USA: Private sector inter-city train operator Brightline has extended its Miami – West Palm Beach service 270 km north to Orlando.
The first service arrived at the station in Orlando airport on September 22, where it was met by more than 500 elected officials, business leaders and community partners.
Brightline said it is ’poised to reinvent train travel in America and offers a blueprint to connect city pairs that are too short to fly and too far to drive’.
Extension project
Brightline launched operations between Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in southern Florida in 2018, with intermediate stations in Boca Raton and Aventura opening in 2022.
Construction of the extension north from West Palm Beach to Orlando began in 2019, and was divided into four zones:
Zone 1
- the Basecamp maintenance depot south of Orlando International Airport;
- the Orlando International Airport station, which is adjacent to Terminal C, and has dedicated car parking spaces and a peoplemover link to terminals A and B.
Zone 2
- a 6 km section of line at Orlando International Airport which Brightline said ‘represents one of the most complex and challenging areas of construction for the entire project’, passing under taxiways and over tug roads requiring six bridges and two underpasses.
Zone 3
- 56 km of new alignment following the Beachline Expressway/SR 528 corridor between Orlando International Airport and Cocoa.
Zone 4
- upgrading and double-tracking 208 km of the existing Florida East Coast Railway between Cocoa and West Palm Beach from Class IV to VI standards allowing operation at up to 177 km/h. Installation of the second track required realigning 90 km of the existing track and the construction of 160 km of new Class VI track within the existing right of way, as well as the rehabilitation of 45 km of existing passing sidings;
- upgrading 156 level crossings;
- replacement of 19 bridges, including the moveable St Lucie and Loxahatchee river bridges.
Services are operated using loco-hauled trainsets built by Siemens Mobility in Sacramento. Trains taken 3 to 3½ h to cover the 380 km between Miami and Orlando.
Design work is underway for the next phase which will extend services to Tampa.
A blueprint for expanding rail
‘Over the last century, America has perfected the automobile and pioneered space exploration, but we’ve barely budged in terms of passenger rail’, said Wes Edens, co-founder of Brightline owner Fortress Investment Group. The opening of the extension ’marks the beginning of a new industry and outlines a blueprint for expanding high speed rail in America’.
Senator Rick Scott said ’as governor of Florida, I was proud to work with Brightline to deliver reliable rail in our state without putting Florida taxpayers on the hook. Today’s grand opening of Brightline’s new Orlando station shows that Florida was right to embrace private rail partners and is great news for Florida families, businesses and the over one hundred million tourists who visit our state each year.’
The AllRail association of new entrants to the European rail market said ’just like has happened in many places in Europe — such as in Sweden, the Czech Republic and Austria — we are confident that the entry of privately owned new players will benefit the US inter-city rail market as well. More than anything, Brightline’s new service will help get people out of their cars, especially on the congested Interstate 95 Highway.’
Brightline West
Brightline said it has ’bold plans to transform high speed rail’ in the USA, through the Brightline West project for a link linking Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
This would be the country’s ‘first true high speed rail network’ with electric trains operating at up to 320 km/h. Groundbreaking is planned by the end of this year.
