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WASHINGTON — Brightline West is seeking a $6 billion government loan to address increased construction costs for its planned route between Southern California and Las Vegas, Nev. A Department of Transportation document indicates the company behind the project, DesertXpress Enterprises, LLC, applied for the loan under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, which dates […]
MIAMI — Beginning Oct. 6, Brightline is making sweeping changes that adjust schedules, capacity, and pricing to capture ridership and revenue for both its Miami-West Palm Beach and South Florida-Orlando clientele. Hourly round trips between Miami and Orlando will be reduced from the current 15 to 10, departing about every two hours, while short-distance frequencies […]
MIAMI — Florida passenger rail operator Brightline is reissuing almost a billion dollars of private activity bond debt for which a mandatory redemption has come due. The more than 1,300-page Series 2025B “Limited Remarketing Memorandum” distributed to interested parties Tuesday has a term rate of 10%, but is expected to yield 15% to bondholders of […]
MIAMI — Florida East Coast Railway is suing Brightline over the proposed commuter service along the FEC route used by Brightline in South Florida, saying the passenger operator does not have the authority to negotiate the use of the line and that the plan is part of a Brightline effort to stave off “financial collapse.” […]
MIAMI — Brightline trains have hit and killed more than 180 people since the passenger service began operation in South Florida — a higher toll than had been publicly recognized, the Miami Herald and public broadcaster WLRN report in a joint investigation that also looks at causes of the deaths and a lack of safeguards […]
ORLANDO, Fla. — Brightline has petitioned the Florida Development Finance Corp., seeking to have the state agency issue up to $400 million of private activity bond funding to advance design and planning for its long-sought extension to Tampa, as well as improvements to existing routes. The request for more debt financing comes as the company […]
MIAMI — The new Florida budget signed Monday by Gov. Ron DeSantis eliminates some $200 million in state funding for the proposed Miami-Aventura commuter rail project, the Miami Herald reports. The state money, along with Miami-Dade County funding, was intended to match $389.5 million in federal funds for the 14-mile, seven-station service planned on the […]
MIAMI — The finances of Brightline’s Florida operation have produced cautionary action by bond-rating agencies on Wall Street, which have downgraded the company’s bonds and notes over concerns about its ability to service its debt. The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports in a paywalled article that Fitch Group and Kroll Bond Rating Agency downgraded more […]
ORLANDO, Fla. — The governing body overseeing Orlando’s SunRail commuter operation has authorized a study of the Sunshine Corridor project, which would bring SunRail to Orlando International Airport and provide the first portion of a Brightline extension to Tampa. At an April 24 meeting, the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission agreed to conduct a project […]
Here’s your latest installment of News Wire Recommended Reading, articles available online which Trains readers may find of interest: — The New York Times ran a pair of articles on high-speed rail earlier this month, the first on the various projects under consideration in the U.S. (which quotes, among others, Trains correspondent Bob Johnston), and […]
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — The city manager of Delray Beach, Fla., told the driver of a fire truck hit by a Brightline train in a letter that he was being terminated for actions that cost the city “millions of dollars” and led to serious injuries to other firefighters and the public. The South Florida Sun […]
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — The city of Delray Beach has dismissed the firefighter who was driving the fire truck struck by a Brightline train in December. City Manager Terrence Moore announced the firing of firefighter David Wyatt in a press release today (April 10), WPBF-TV reports. Moore said the incident “revealed a pattern of carelessness […]
