High-speed train will be a model for the nation — if it succeeds
MIAMI — When Simon Akinwolere, a 27-year-old cruise director, needed to commute from Orlando, Fla., to Miami, he sorted through his travel options.
He could drive the 235 miles, spending four hours dealing with traffic, stress, lost work time and gas stops. Flying would be faster, but he’d endure security lines and baggage hassles at two busy airports.
He settled on a new, third option: Buy a train ticket that promised a 3 1/2-hour ride, access to a conference room and a free buffet with self-serve beer and wine taps.
A privately run train line between Orlando and Miami called Brightline has become Akinwolere’s favorite way to shuttle between the two Florida cities since the new long-haul service started in September.
“I come from England, so trains are my bag,” he said, explaining his decision to pay $149 for a one-way, first-class seat on his way to catch a Miami flight to Cozumel, Mexico.
President Joe Biden is depending on people such as Akinwolere — and more than a few additional American converts — to realize the long-forestalled dream of revitalizing passenger rail service in this country. Biden, a train enthusiast who spent his Senate career commuting from Washington, D.C., to Delaware on Amtrak, sees rail travel as central to his legacy.
Florida’s train, which reaches speeds up to 125 mph, is owned by Brightline, the same company behind an even more ambitious test project: Brightline West, a $12 billion, 218-mile route between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., that promises even faster travel as the first true high-speed rail line in the United States.
Brightline executives are hoping to open the western route, with speeds up to 200 mph, by 2028, in time for the Los Angeles Olympics. They plan to break ground in the spring if they complete