MELBOURNE, Fla. — Brightline testing at speeds up to 110 mph will move into the Melbourne area as soon as this Friday, July 28, as the passenger operator continues preparations to launch service between Orlando and South Florida later this summer.
Testing will take place on approximately 41 miles of track and include a total of 48 grade crossings in the Brevard County communities of Cocoa, Rockledge, Melbourne, Palm Bay, Malabar, Grant-Valkaria, and Micco. Testing will last for up to a week and occur daily between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Flaggers will be present at crossings where active testing is taking place and trains will travel between 79 mph and 110 mph; Brightline is also working with local law enforcement agencies that will be present throughout the corridor.
In advance of the start of Brightline service, the Melbourne Police Department is running an education and enforcement rail safety awareness campaign through July and August. Officers are patrolling the rail corridor and high traffic railroad crossings, handing out rail safety materials to motorists and pedestrians and enforcing trespassing on railroad tracks and laws at railroad crossings.
More information is available at Brightline’s safety website.
I hope for the best but fear that too many stupid people will ignore all the information being pushed about the HIGH SPEED trains and perish by getting hit.
I also believe that Brightline, or similar operations, are the way to go for the future of American passenger rail. Amtrak should be changed to a coordinator for the various operators. For example, several operators could pool a rolling stock order through Amtrak for a lower unit price on a larger order. Amtrak could also be the coordinator of a nationwide reservation system. Amtrak could also assist private firms with managing traffic surges by helping maintain a “surge fleet” of older, but still safe and good equipment.
Brightline is the face of the future of passenger rail travel in America if handled and managed in the right way or should I say the right of way. And if everything goes according to plan with their Brightline West project that should also be a rousing sucess. Forget what the detractors and naysayers might comment about or say that passenger rail travel is dead or not a viable option. The same thing was said over 150 years ago when the nation’s first transcontinential railroad was being planned and constructed but public sentiment and demand for comfortable and decent travel options won out. What is interesting to note that these very same naysayers and doubters who question and challenge both Brightline here in Florida and the Brightline West rail line will be the first ones lining up to buy tickets for a ride on the new rail line. We can’t judge or condem passenger rail traffic in this country because of Amtak’s failures or the bumbling executives and politial hacks running it into the ground or off the rails. Amtrak is a government run and owned bureaucracy and anything run by the government be it federal or local is a mess and poorly operated and doomed to failure. It still takes private enterprise and capital to make things happen and operate. Aitline travel is no doubt the number one mover of people in this country with many options to choose from with the many private carriers offering wall to wall coverage and service over the nation. Imagine having just one government owned and operated air carrier in the style like Amtrak rrunning things It would be a colossal mess and collapse of our transportation system with hundreds more cars and highways clogging up and messing with our envirnoment and landscape of this nation. Like Brightline, we still need to have some form of private enterprise and money to operate our passenger rail network . If Amtrak continues to have meltdowns or shortages, it is time to do something new and rplace it with a Brightline style business model and operation. Go Brightline and the future of passenger rail travel in this country
Joseph C. Markfelder
Airline ravel is going to take a hit due to the P&W engine problems. about 8 – 10%. A-320 series 30 – 40 % reductions. Now Amtrak cannot fill any of the voids. Just another reason to have a surge fleet.
Yes, this Brightline passenger rail program in Florida is the one “bright” spot in an otherwise grim and gloomy passenger rail situation in the U.S. now (broken, dysfunctional Amtrak, failed California HSR project, etc.)
Brightline looks determined to become one of the bright and enduring stars of American passenger rail travel in the 21st century.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Brightline spent millions on safer train crossings in Brevard County, including new signals and gates, and adding a second track to the railroad.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün