Florida East Coast Industries announced an express service between Miami and Palm beach back in 2012, and in 2013 a privately owned company known as Brightline (previously Xpress West) picked up the project. Completing rail services between these cities required newly built stations as well as platforms built especially for this train putting the estimated cost of the project at 1.5 billion dollars. One of Brightline’s shareholders (Virgin Group) decided to sponsor the project. They incorporated specially streamlined locomotives designed by Siemens costing over 11.5 million dollars.
The Service started in 2018 and has a ridership of over 2.9 million people annually. In 2019, the project profited over 22 million dollars, although these numbers did not meet projections. Brightline announced their plans for an expansion directly to Orlando International Railroad, which would be extremely convenient for many tourists and other passengers, increasing ridership and profitability. This expansion is estimated to be completed around the year 2022.
Brightline is also looking to capitalize on the routes in California, attempting to build a route from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Although funding proved to be a major problem out west,
Brightline’s services proved to be extremely successful and beneficial in bringing down traffic and lower pollution in Florida. The rail will continue to be a valuable asset in Florida’s system of transportation.
