Brightline seeks to add commuter line
Project includes 5 new stations from Aventura to downtown Miami
Brightline’s new plans in Miami-Dade County would, for the first time, bring a commuter rail line to the eastern parts of South Florida.
The company is seeking to build a five-stop commuter service between Aventura, where a Brightline station is in the early stages of construction, and its Virgin MiamiCentral station in Miami.
The $425 million project would entail a dedicated line separate and apart from its high speed operation that has served the downtowns of Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami since 2018.
The proposal could put an end to Tri-Rail’s long-held ambition to set up a three-county “Coastal Link” along the Florida East Coast line, which is controlled by Brightline. Tri-Rail runs on the CSX tracks, west of Interstate 95, while Brightline runs on the
tracks east of US 1.
A Tri-Rail spokesman said the line’s executives intend to review the proposal between Brightline and Miami-Dade “to see how it may affect our efforts.”
“A commuter rail service that leverages our corridor offers a tremendous public benefit, and we’re excited to advance a plan that has been well-studied and long discussed in South Florida,” said Brightline President Patrick Goddard in a statement.
The proposed station stops would include Florida International University’s Biscayne Bay campus, North Miami, El Portal, Wynwood and the city’s Design District.
In November, Goddard suggested Brightline wasn’t ready to have Tri-Rail trains run along the Florida East Coast Railway line. The FEC freight line’s parent owns the tracks from Miami to Jacksonville, and Brightline holds perpetual rights to operate over them.
“Whether or not a commuter line ends up on our corridor is really a financial decision for us,” Goddard said. “It’s not one we take lightly. We have a responsibility to our investors to make the business they invested in work.”
Brightline’s trains have been idle since late March when the company suspended service in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The company laid off 250 employees but pledged to resume operations at an unspecified date.
“As South Florida starts its phased re-opening, the team at Brightline is monitoring current events and evaluating scenarios for providing passenger service. However, we do not anticipate resuming operations in the coming months,” the company says on its website in a message to customers. “Due to CDC social distancing guidelines, mandated work-from-home policies and other considerations, it is expected to take a long period of time for service demand to return to pre-virus levels.”
Currently, the only local commuter rail line operating in South Florida is Tri-Rail, which serves 18 stations between Palm Beach County and Miami International Airport. It links to downtown Miami via MetroRail.
Brightline, which is being rebranded as Virgin Trains USA, has continued work on its 170-mile expansion project that would take passengers from South Florida to Orlando International Airport.
Besides the Aventura station, it is building a new station in Boca Raton. And it is planning a station at PortMiami, where it ultimately intends to serve a cruise line industry that hopes to revive itself after being run aground by the pandemic.
Rail stations have been part of urban planning as new residential and commercial development grows in and near city centers. The idea was to move motorists off South Florida’s congested streets and highways and onto trains that would carry commuters.
Brightline listened to inquiries about installing stations in various Broward County cities such as Hallandale Beach and Hollywood. And even Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was mentioned in 2019 as a possible station site by company officials. But thus far, it has only settled on new stations for Boca Raton, Aventura and PortMiami.
Dania Beach, which is redeveloping its commercial district, tentatively included a station for Tri-Rail’s long-discussed “Coastal Link” on the Florida East Coast line. Tri-Rail has all but completed rail links that would connect its main line along the CSX tracks in the west across Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
The 9-mile Miami-Dade link would enable Tri-Rail riders to take a single train from the northern counties and from west Miami-Dade to downtown Miami and the station built for Brightline. But that service cannot start until the completion of a sophisticated train control system that would give Tri-Rail’s trains access to the downtown station, executives have said.
Last year, Tri-Rail executive director Steven L. Abrams said he heard from leaders in a number of cities in Broward and Palm Beach counties who all want TriRail stations in their towns. They include Oakland Park, Wilton Manors and Hollywood. He also met with business leaders in Jupiter to discuss a potential station there. But he said any station to be built in the future would have to be erected “at no cost” to the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which owns Tri-Rail.