Just got back from Southeast Florida. While I was down there, I took a ride on the Brightline and was very impressed by it. The whole experience of it puts Amtrak to shame really. From the stations, to the train car design, to interior design, to staff, to not yielding for freight trains, and to getting around in destination cities, Brightline does it right. I guess this is what you get when you have a private company take a swing at things.

MiamiCentral - Brightline's Home Station
This place is impressive. It's several blocks long and has a visually interesting design thanks to the zig-zags that make up the lower few floors and train platform levels. Ground level activation is great but isn't being taken full advantage of right now. I believe that once the retail spaces fill up, then it'll be a busier place sidewalk wise. The retail spaces may also get a boost thanks to ongoing nearby developments with Miami World Center, a parcel directly East of the Station, MiamiCentral expansion (two super towers located South of the station), and some miscellaneous apartment/condo/hotel/office buildings. On top, MiamiCentral has two residential towers - Parkline, and an office building (2 MiamiCentral). Another office building, 3 MiamiCentral, is located around the block and includes a Publix Grocery Store. The station was built by Brightline's parent company/operator Florida East Coast Industries. 

MiamiCentral is easily accessible by the Metrorail System via the stop at Historic Overtown, or the Metromover via the stop at Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. 

Inside, the station has a wonderful smell of citrus. It's very clean too and has a lot of signage to direct you to where you need to go. Upstairs is the "Citizens Miami" Food Hall. To get to the trains, your bag goes through a quick scan at security and you're in. You use a barcode on your phone to gain access to the station area. Once there, you have a lounge, a bar, a "quick market" where there's no checkout lane, and then a premium lounge. Boarding is fairly easy as a station attendant announces which track the train you're boarding will be on and to go to the escalator that takes you up to track-level. From there, you board your train car and sit in your chosen, or assigned, seat.














The Ride to West Palm Beach
Upon boarding the train, you're greeted with a nice interior design and the name of your train (in my case, Brightblue). There's a small sitting area outside of the main seating area and by the bathroom where you can make a phone call. The bathrooms themselves are clean. I sat in the "Smart" coach on this trip, which is comparable to your economy class. Brightline offers two classes - Smart and Premium. In Premium, you get a larger seat, more legroom, and free snacks and drinks but I found the seat size and legroom to be plentiful in Smart. LCD displays on the ceiling throughout the railcar advertised Brightline's services as well as the next destination.

The ride was quiet and smooth. The maximum speed is currently 79mph, but the smoothness of the ride makes it feel like you're going faster.  Eventually, Brightline will operate at speeds of up to 125mph once the expansion to Orlando opens. According to a press release, Brightline will begin testing the stretch of the extension up to Cocoa with testing on the line to Orlando Airport beginning by the end of the year. In the future, the train might be extended to Disney World and Tampa as well as PortMiami. Along the ride, we passed by Brightline's next two stations - Aventura Mall and Boca Raton. Both are early in their construction process but will have a similar design to the West Palm Beach station.

West Palm Beach's station, like Fort Lauderdale's, is a miniature version of MiamiCentral. However, unlike Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach station includes its own "Parkline" apartment tower. the station is also located just around the corner from Related Southeast's Rosemary Square which includes shopping, dining, residential, work, and entertainment options. If you wish to go to Palm Beach, Brightline+ is a free service to get you there. It's a service to get you anywhere within a 5-mile radius of the station and will also pick you up if you need a ride back. 















Other Photos and Thoughts
I love the way the stations are lit up at night. Definitely are eyecatchers. Overall, I like the system and wish it was adopted in more places across the country. It really is nice despite not having much ridership. On my return trip back from West Palm Beach, there were 6 other passengers in my coach. On the way to West Plam Beach, as evidenced by the pictures, I was the only passenger in that coach. I guess it depends on when you ride as trains run every hour from the early morning to around 11PM. Station designs like West Palm Beach seem like they could easily be brought to the Amtrak network at some point. It's not too big of a station and includes everything you need when waiting.

Lastly, since Amtrak will be getting the Venture railcars, which are basically the same as Brightline, I have hope that those will be just as comfortable to ride in. Even though Amtrak has its problems with being on time and operating at somewhat faster speeds, getting new railcars into mix could help change perceptions of Amtrak. Just speed needs to be worked on.

I guess this is what you get when you have a private company take a swing at things.

mmm... i would say it's what you get when your government underfunds and undervalues rail transit, giving private lines a market advantage. gov't subsidized european and asian trains manage to be extremely nice and efficient.

It's great, I agree. But it seems a long way from being financially sustainable. They've got to be just burning cash right now. They're giving away tickets again, at least they were at the end of the year.

It'll be interesting to see it in its final form, when it has to turn a profit. The ticket prices already seem kind of high, like 5x as much as TRI rail for FLL to MIA.

eee123 wrote:It's great, I agree. But it seems a long way from being financially sustainable. They've got to be just burning cash right now. They're giving away tickets again, at least they were at the end of the year.

It'll be interesting to see it in its final form, when it has to turn a profit. The ticket prices already seem kind of high, like 5x as much as TRI rail for FLL to MIA.

I was able to talk to some Brightline Executives during my trip this past week about how operations are going. They aren’t losing that much money on the system, at least right now. The revenue from the sale of the Florida East Coast Railway for $2.1 Billion in 2017 as well as the apartment buildings and other real estate holdings owned by FEC Industries helps with everything. They expect to turn true profits once the expansion to Orlando is open for service.

As far as it being more expensive, that’s true. Trirail isn't that convenient if you’re in Downtown Miami without taking Metrorail to either the airport or the Trirail station. To me, and maybe others, I think the price being higher is justified by a cleaner and faster experience than what Trirail offers. But it’s just a preference I guess.

^ tons of potential, but people have to choose to ride it. that means giving up cars for some trips. 'mericans love their g'damned cars. re: right-of-ways, guess it depends on what's available.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/flori ... story.html

Good rundown on the frankly alarming number of fatalities for Brightline in Florida. Seems like Brightline isn't to blame but both motorists and pedestrians are acting like maniacs when it comes to track tracks.

Brightline testing at 130mph. Great videos including showing it flying past cars on the highway.


And the Las Vegas-Rancho Cucamonga line out west should start construction towards the end of the year and open in 2026 or 2027.
https://jalopnik.com/construction-of-10 ... source=YPL

^You give me hope for the future. Lovely find.

A lot of Brightline fares are $119 between South Florida and Orlando, which seems crazy high to me for a 3 hour trip.

It's one thing to have fares that high on Amtrak's Northeast corridor, where driving is awful, lots of people don't have cars, and you don't need a car at your destination in most places there.

Driving on I-95 and the Florida Turnpike is an experience that I don’t want to do again. So I’d pay the fare. Plus, you’re tolled on the Turnpike a ton. As for actually being in Miami; the transit isn’t all that good, but busses are frequent and you have MetroRail. If you go when it’s not too hot, you can easily bike to all the major areas. I’ve visited several times without a car and have gotten around easily. When I drove down there earlier this summer, it was the worst dealing with the traffic everywhere, insane drivers on 95 and Turnpike, tolls on expressways and parking. Don’t want to do that again.

Tri Rail, the other Miami to West Palm Beach commuter rail, not to be confused with Miami's rapid transit system, expects to begin service to Brightline's Miami Central Station this month. This is the first time Tri Rail will serve downtown Miami and the first shared station between the two systems. The station was built with Tri Rail in mind with service to start in 2018. A small amount of new rail was rebuilt for this connection (one turn) but most of the delay was due to FRA requirements. Tri Rail's current southern terminus is at Miami Airport with a people mover connection. I don't know what percentage of trains will serve each terminus. Trains will not need to operate between downtown and the airport as rapid transit already provides this.

When Tri Rail was established, the corridor Brightline now uses was the preferred alignment but the corridor's owner FEC was unwilling to let them use it. The FEC passes through many more of the historic towns between Miami and West Palm Beach, most of which Brightline now flies past. Tri Rail mostly connects sprawling suburban areas. Long term plans do call for additional Tri Rail stations on the FEC / Brightline ROW though, with Tri Rail acting as a local train, Brightline as express.

Will be disappointed if they don't name the LA to Vegas train the Douchebag Express.

leeharveyawesome wrote: ↑

Dec 30, 2023

Will be disappointed if they don't name the LA to Vegas train the Douchebag Express.

It will be the douchebag express but it will force douchebags to be around other douchebags and maybe some of them will learn not to be douchebags. A phenomenon that happens on mass transit but not when everyone is in their own cars.

I think Brightline West will end up being a pretty good success story when all said in done as it connects a population basin of 12 million with one the fastest growing metro areas in Las Vegas, Southwest, and a lot of that growth due to things going on outside of the strip.   At 125 mph it will blow past traffic along I-15 corridor.  

 I believe Brightline West making its way into LA Basin is already being pushed via I-15 right allowing for 110 mph.  From there it doesn't take much imagination, and if agencies willingness to play nice but more importantly being smart about it, for Brightline trainsets sharing platform space with Amtrak, Metra @ LA Union Station and done right will go through LA at 110 mph blowing past even more traffic at probably three times the speed.  Nor does it take much imagination for West Brightline and CaHSR connecting at some point which will add another potentional 3 million Central Valley riders.  You might talk about a population base almost twice as much as Brightline has access to in FL right now.

At end of day Brightline West is going after automobile traffic in city pair, corridor that doesn't need true High Speed but can be built to and achieve 125 mph easily.  Because of that t will take a fair share of people out of their I-15 automobile seats onto the train as well as few people out of the flying cattle cars 

dredger wrote:I think Brightline West will end up being a pretty good success story when all said in done as it connects a population basin of 12 million with one the fastest growing metro areas in Las Vegas, Southwest, and a lot of that growth due to things going on outside of the strip.   At 125 mph it will blow past traffic along I-15 corridor.  

 I believe Brightline West making its way into LA Basin is already being pushed via I-15 right allowing for 110 mph.  From there it doesn't take much imagination, and if agencies willingness to play nice but more importantly being smart about it, for Brightline trainsets sharing platform space with Amtrak, Metra @ LA Union Station and done right will go through LA at 110 mph blowing past even more traffic at probably three times the speed.  Nor does it take much imagination for West Brightline and CaHSR connecting at some point which will add another potentional 3 million Central Valley riders.  You might talk about a population base almost twice as much as Brightline has access to in FL right now.

At end of day Brightline West is going after automobile traffic in city pair, corridor that doesn't need true High Speed but can be built to and achieve 125 mph easily.  Because of that t will take a fair share of people out of their I-15 automobile seats onto the train as well as few people out of the flying cattle cars 

Top speed in the west is 185mph iirc. Bright line will be shooting past car traffic and can only get better if they run into LA.