My Brightline experience.
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At least North America has another decent train line.
Reece
May 12
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It was actually when I was moving to Toronto and closely following some transit projects in the city that I first heard of Brightline. Metrolinx wanted to build an elevated rail guideway through a neighbourhood in the old city, and they were showing examples of what had been built in other cities.
One of the examples they were showing was actually the Miami Central station (which because _modernity_ , Brightline insists on calling Miami Central), which is actually a pretty cool facility up on an elevated guideway with high-rise condos built on top in what is basically the platonic ideal of transit-oriented development. I figured that the rail service — having been open for a few years now — was something I really had to check out given it's kind of the biggest thing to happen in intercity rail for North America in the past 30 or 40 years, so I recently took a trip with my family on Brightline from Orlando to West Palm Beach.
The idea of the line is pretty interesting, and I admit I was pretty skeptical when I first started looking. My experience growing up of Florida was one of suburbia and driving a lot, and so the idea of a train service in the state seemed a little questionable. But the reality is, it actually makes a lot of sense even despite the suburban car-oriented reality of most of Florida. For one, congestion here (because of the lack of alternatives) is really bad, and so a train that can provide you not only a quick but also a consistent travel experience is a big deal. On the other hand, there is actually some transit and Brightline links in with it pretty well. In Miami for example, you can take the metro and people mover system to Brightline as well as to the airport. In Orlando, the transit is not great, but the train at least lands you at the airport where you can get all kinds of tourist-oriented coach buses all over the place. Several of the intermediate stops actually drop you in pretty pleasant walkable urban areas, albeit ones that are bifurcated by an at-grade rail line that has a pretty high body count at this point.
One gets the sense that Brightline is pretty sensitive to the number of fatalities that have happened since train service ramped up. Its level crossings are pretty aggressively set up to try to prevent people pulling the sort of sketchy maneuvers that they probably wouldn't in most places but for some reason happen in Florida, with extra lights, signs, and barriers. On the other hand, the corridor is frequently _wide open_ and you could walk right in front of a train from the sidewalk even where a fence could easily be put up, so it's not exactly clear to me that this issue is being taken super seriously.
Of course, the level crossings probably are the bigger problem, because they are where people are actually meant to cross the tracks. There isn't really an easy solution here: you could grade separate a lot of them, but Florida being Florida makes below-grade construction difficult, and so you'd probably be looking at either ugly road over rail crossings or an elevated viaduct for the train. This honestly probably makes the most sense just because there are such a high density of crossings in some places that trying to tackle them individually doesn't make a lot of sense — there are sections where there are seemingly crossings every 100 m as well as frontage roads. But this is the fundamental issue with a rail system like this in a place where people get up in a fuss about the idea of paying taxes (Florida has no state income tax): people don't like trains hitting people or cars, but you also hear again and again that it's mostly their fault and not a collective failure to create a safe transportation system. A service like this definitely wouldn't have so many level crossings in most other parts of the world, but that would require money for engineering solutions, and the whole point of Brightline is it's a private service and anywhere where public dollars actually enabled it to exist is something we mostly shouldn't be talking about. Another solution would probably be to close the almost countless minor level crossings with only two lanes and seemingly very little traffic, but Florida just seems like a place where compromise like that isn't allowed, and so while people will complain about the outcomes of a dangerous situation nobody's actually willing to compromise to fix that.
Amazingly, there was literally a car accident with a freight train directly next to our passenger train at one of the level crossings halfway between Orlando and West Palm Beach, which I think really highlights the problem here. Even if passenger trains weren't running, all of these local crossings create a serious risk! The costs to fix things are not socialized and so instead the literal human costs are.
On a more positive note, as I said before, I think the service is actually quite well connected. You have some okay transit options, and where you don't you typically have an okay walking or cycling option (by Florida standards). At the same time, there is a lot of parking available, and rideshare has absolutely exploded onto the scene since Brightline was conceived; in fact, Miami even has Waymo now. I know there's a lot of ideologues who think that transit and cars can't really work together, and while it's perhaps not optimal, it certainly is better than a world where cars exist alone. Even if you have to drive to the station, it's nice to be able to relax for a few hours traveling a significant distance, and it's clearly a viable model because it's exactly how Toronto's very successful regional rail got its start.
The trains are quite nice. I'm not going to go and say they're the nicest trains in the world because they just aren't, but they're certainly up there with any new train you'd find in Europe. Seats are spacious with multiple table options as well as fold-down tray tables in more than one size, there are lots of amenities including a little bench near the washroom where you can take a call, you can easily stretch your legs and walk down the train, there are all kinds of food and snack options, and the windows are huge with really nice screens you can pull down if you don't want the Florida sun beating into your face. There is enormous amounts of room for small airplane carry-ons and a large luggage rack at the end of the cars for bigger bags. We took a stroller on our trip and had no problem rolling it easily onto the train, which had a big section for wheelchairs and strollers. This was especially easy because there is fantastic level boarding between the high platforms and the trains, aided by a pop out step which is fairly novel on this continent. The trains are pretty interesting, because they are book-ended by Siemens Charger locomotives which do looks snazzy and are fairly high-speed, and at this point they feel a little less silly because they are pulling eight passenger cars where previously they were pulling just four — a third of the length of the train was just locomotives.
Unfortunately, I get the sense the trains might have gotten a little less nice over time. Since again this is a private service, they are looking for any way they can grow their revenue (and to be fair it seems like this is pretty existential for them) and that means an ugly wrap that obstructs the view out of the windows, and wayfinding screens repurposed for ads. There's also something a little weird about seeing a train line have to advertise a stations on Google Maps (I've literally never seen a sponsored transit stop on the service and didn't even realize it was something that could be done). People who say the private sector often operates more efficiently aren't always wrong, but it's things like this that highlight that there are actually some inefficiencies to using that model as well. When the transit system is treated not as a private service but as the basic infrastructure of a place, the need to advertise is pretty clearly not there.
The trains were starting to feel a bit rougher on the edges and actually the door seal on the bathroom appeared to be totally falling off. This may be reflective of Brightline which as I mentioned appears to be under some financial stress and rough around the edges itself, or it might just be Siemens producing trains that aren't very good, which wouldn't exactly be unprecedented given the issues VIA rail has had with its trains.
As you might know, Brightline is also capable of fairly high speeds. This isn't High-Speed rail in the sort of contemporary sense because that requires full grade separation and electric trains, but trains do travel at up to around 200 km/h (125 miles per hour) like you'll see in many places in the Northeast US and across the UK. It probably takes the wind out of the sails of rail fans to hear that it's not really high speed, but the reality is that the high-speed section of the line that runs between the east coast of Florida and Orlando along an expressway has trains traveling roughly twice the speed of traffic on that same expressway. Even when you're traveling through the fairly urban or maybe rather suburban-industrial areas with lots of level crossings on the East Coast of Florida, you are topping out at speeds that are around where speeding drivers on the nearby parallel interstate travel at, and on the train, these speeds are actually reached consistently — the average speed is actually a very respectable 110 km/h along the whole route. In terms of ride quality, I actually didn't notice a huge difference between the dedicated passenger line and the tracks that are shared with freight, and it's pretty smooth by North American standards (although a step below what you'd find in other parts of the world).
That high speed section between the coast and Orlando — which admittedly isn't very long — is particularly interesting to me because as I mentioned it was built along an expressway and yet manages respectable if not world-class high-speed rail speeds. It's quite interesting to see how the rail line sort of bobs and weaves around interchanges to maintain speed and also potentially space to expand those interchanges down the road. Tracks also often end up elevated off the side of the highway to fly over connecting and crossing roads. I guess the point here is that we now have a pretty good example to point to of a contemporary high-speed railroad built in North America which manages to use an existing highway corridor to deliver really good rail service, and a positive touch is that even while most of the line here is single track, it is all set up for future expansion with a second one.
Service on the line in terms of trains you can actually take is definitely more limited than one would hope. During peak periods (think commuting hours) trains run slightly more frequently than hourly, and then for much of the rest of the day trains seem to run roughly every hour and a half and sometimes a little less frequently than that. Running a service so focused on matching demand to service seems like it might be another private operation thing that introduces some inefficiency. because it makes it basically impossible to remember when any given train might show up. That being said, at least the infrastructure appears to be set up to allow service to run at an hourly frequency without too many problems and even more frequently if some simple improvements are made.
I'll also say that the ticketing process is pretty good: You can buy tickets online or using a well-made app or using pretty nice in-person ticket machines. The prices are definitely not cheap, but the reality that nobody wants to admit is that driving is also really expensive and so when you compare it like for like, it's not so bad (especially because there are a lot of toll highways in Florida). The prices felt pretty similar to Via Rail in Canada (which people complain about and are objectively high by international standards) but with better, more reliable, and faster service. Weirdly, despite having face gates to check your tickets and an incentive to have less huge numbers of employees telling you how to read signs and the like, the station was still absolutely packed with staff, including someone who is just standing there pressing the elevator button for people. I guess I would chalk this up to poor station design since there is also a sort of light airport-style security at the entrance and it was quite a mess with a bunch of fairgates jamming people into a single security queue that was somehow way too tight for people with their luggage despite the fact that it was entirely composed of movable retractable barriers. The operations definitely feel like they could use some tuning up, and this just provides a good reminder that just because the private sector does something doesn't mean it's going to be entirely logical or efficient. Often the same cultural problems that prevent a public sector organization from operating in a rational way are just going to transfer over directly to the private sector.
Transit people are often super skeptical of Brightline, and I think this is somewhat misplaced. I don't think the alternative here was going to be a public rail service (well at least not initially, but I'll get back to that), but no rail service at all.
We have the rail service now, and Brightline ordering and speccing out very nice trains seems to have had the effect of lighting a fire under the butts of public rail operators on the continent, so as it turns out the new VIA rail corridor trains are basically just as nice as these Brightline trains (I assume the Amtrak ones — Airo — will be similar and those will be operating all over), meaning for the first time in recent memory, rail vehicles for intercity travel in North America are basically as nice as you would find in other countries. Plus, they'll be fairly consistent from place to place too.
One positive element of the operations is that despite sharing tracks with freight trains for the majority of the route, Brightline operates fast, fairly frequently, and reliably. In this case it's because there are common financial interests, but it highlights the point that there are models that could allow North American freight operations to coexist with fairly good passenger service, and like with high-speed rail along an expressway this feels like something people should really be studying.
Now, putting aside the backwards operations, the stations are really nice, with cool mid-century modern designs, tons of lounge space (it was pretty nice having my ticket sent to my phone with a QR code and then actually being able to tag into the lounge via faregate with that QR code). If you get one of the nicer tickets, you are truly going to be traveling in style, and you get to board the train early as well (hilariously, this means that you also do have to line up for Brightline which is one of those dumb inefficient rail operation mindworms North Americans are infected with). The train stations honestly end up feeling a lot like what you'd find in most developed countries around the world but with particularly attractive architecture and nice amenities like restaurants and lounges and huge washrooms. The station at Orlando airport in particular kind of reminded me of modern rail stations in China. And of course you have all of the obvious things you'd expect, like a large pickup drop-off area and loads of parking to make getting to them actually practical.
I would love to see public rail operators take some inspiration from the Brightline facilities. You probably aren't going to get a full-service restaurant to operate at a train station unless you combine it with a mixed-use development, but we should definitely be doing that! At the same time, having comfortable lounges, tons of space, and ticket checks by way of machine would make rail travel more efficient and get us in line with what the rest of the world has been doing for a long time.
If I had to complain about one thing, it would be having level crossings right next to stations, which would be the most obvious ones to remove because they are particularly high-impact. This seems particularly obvious at West Palm Beach where the main drag of the town runs directly north of the train station over a level crossing (it is nice that you get super easy access to the main street from the train station).
So then, where do things stand? Well, I think Brightline is definitely a net positive for the whole continent. It's clearly having a very positive influence on Amtrak and VIA rail, which is and hopefully continues to push up the quality of those services. At the same time, the service levels — while not amazing — is better than most intercity corridors on the continent. It seems like a real possibility that Brightline dies, after all they shut down during COVID and looming debt problems are bearing down. At that point it will be pretty interesting to see whether the government of Florida buys the infrastructure up and rolls it into a bigger public rail system. It would be a mistake not to, after all you would be buying surprisingly good infrastructure (that benefits everyone including drivers) at what would likely be a discount price — but again, the ideology of not being seen to support a public service seems to run pretty broadly here.
Assuming an adult is in the room and the right decision is made, then I think Brightline will basically become one of those corridors in North America that has maybe not world-class but passable rail service, along with the Northeast corridor, Quebec City-Windsor, San Diego-Los Angeles, Portland-Vancouver, and a few others. Given the train frequencies offered and the higher speed on the expressway section, it might actually slot in right after the Northeast corridor as being the most impressive service, which would be funny given eastern Florida's history being built along the railway.
In the future, I would like to see the system expand. Extensions to Jacksonville and Tampa via Disney are totally obvious and could potentially allow you to tie in with some more transit systems. The network also obviously ought to be electrified when the trains come up for replacement, and you could probably do that piecemeal with battery trains advancing as quickly as they are; that might mean slightly faster service but also ideally much more frequency. More stations should definitely be added, with Cocoa being a particularly obvious one at the junction between the line to Orlando and a potential branch to Jacksonville. There should also be combined public transport tickets offered with your Brightline ticket to make the last mile feel a bit easier (this might already exist, but if it does, I don't think it's being particularly well communicated). The last and perhaps most obvious thing is that some level crossings really need to be removed. I think it makes sense to start with the ones that are the most dangerous and closest to stations and work out from there, but it also seems obvious to just close a lot of level crossings where the traffic levels are low enough, especially because in many places the crossings are incredibly close together, so closing a few near a major street and then investing in making that crossing safer or removing it seems obvious.
This is reaching, but it would be great for the rail to just continually be expanded every few years to the north until you get to perhaps Atlanta and meet a version of the Northeast corridor extended to the south. I think it's pretty obvious that you're not going to have high-speed rail running from Florida to New York, but this would enable the entire corridor from Boston to Miami to operate with various sections of useful city pairs and perhaps with some very nice night trains on journeys such as Boston to Atlanta or New York to Miami.
Overall, Brightline is pleasant and effectively a _modern_ rail service operating in North America. The frequency isn't amazing and there are lots of little nitpicks I could make, but it's clearly had a positive impact overall and probably will continue to do so for quite some time.
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