Report: Express trains set for limited service in December
Brightline plans to begin limited express passenger train service between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in December and to Miami early next year, according to a New York-based international credit rating agency.
Fitch Ratings on Monday revealed the plans as part of its analysis of a $600 million bond issue being set up to pay for the high-speed passenger service.
Brightline has declined to comment on the report, an exact startup date, ticket prices or schedules, other than to say some trains would begin running before the end of the year.
The report said Brightline’s potential is good based on strong revenue generated by passenger rail service else-
where in the United States.
It said an independent ridership study projected nearly 3 million people would be riding Brightline trains annually by 2020, generating more than $107 million in gross fare revenue. Food, drinks and parking would add more than $34 million a year.
The study also estimates that each passenger will spend an average $3.58 on food and drinks on the trains and in the stations. The combined 1,720 parking spaces at the three train stations are expected to generate an average $16.53 per space each day, with Brightline users paying $1 per hour and others paying about $3 per hour to park.
Fitch Ratings said Brightline would break even if only 56 percent of its ridership goal were reached. Brightline predicted it would eventually attract 7 million riders a year and generate $400 million in revenue.
Fitch Ratings also projected Brightline would have at least 16 round trips daily among Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach every hour from early morning to late evening.
The report does not include plans to extend Brightline’s route from West Palm Beach to Orlando, which would be financed separately.
Brightline parent company All Aboard Florida won approval from the Florida Development Finance Corp. on Oct. 27 to sell $600 million in taxexempt bonds to private investors.
Brightline tried unsuccessfully to sell $1.75 billion in tax-exempt bonds to finance the West Palm Beach-Orlando route in the past, but CEO Dave Howard has said Brightline still planned to seek a federal loan to help fund that phase of the project.