Brightline Still On Track To Orlando After Branson's Departure

AVENTURA, FL — Weeks after decoupling its relationship with billionaire businessman Richard Branson, the president of Brightline told Patch that Florida’s higher speed train line is still on target to complete its build out to Orlando.

“We’re shut down operationally right now. But from a construction perspective, we’re on track still to Orlando in 2022,” Brightline President Patrick Goddard told Patch earlier this month. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Friday that the state was moving to Phase 3 of its reopening, but it was not immediately clear whether that would hasten the resumption of service by the only privately-owned, operated and maintained intercity passenger train system in the United States.

Goddard confirmed his organization is no longer working with the flamboyant Branson but said nothing else about the end of the relationship, which was announced in a regulatory filing made public last month.

“Our parent has terminated its trademark license agreement ... with Virgin Enterprises Limited, the document states.

Company officials said Brightline planned to change its name to Brightline Trains LLC following the expiration of the relevant notice period for name changes under the company's senior loan agreement.

"Virgin has no remaining affiliation with us, our parent or its affiliates (whether through equity ownership or otherwise)," the document said. "Our parent delivered a termination notice in accordance with the license agreement on July 29, 2020. Virgin has disputed the validity of the termination notice.”

Branson, accompanied by reporters and local officials, rode the train to each of Brightline's three existing stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach back in April of last year to promote his partnership. The system will be expanded to Orlando International Airport and is expected to expand to Disney World and Tampa after that.

"I'm 100 percent confident, obviously reassured that we just raised $1.8 billion to do the first major leg of that, and I'm absolutely certain that Tampa will be getting a Virgin train in the not too distant future," Branson said at the time.

The train hits speeds of 79 mph between Miami and West Palm, but will reach speeds of up to 125 mph once the stop at Orlando International Airport is added. The fastest speed will be on the stretch between Cocoa and Orlando International where the line plans to construct 40 miles of new grade separated track.

That is a far cry from the noisy and heavy cargo trains that have had the more than 100-year-old Florida East Coast railway tracks to themselves since the late 1960s. The cargo trains reach maximum speeds of about 60 miles per hour and are much louder than the Brightline trains.

Earlier this month, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Esteban L. Bovo Jr. and other local officials participated in a groundbreaking for Brightline's planned Aventura station, which will become one of the two next stations along with Boca Raton sometime in fall 2021.

"Miami-Dade County is going to be investing $76 million in the station, but really it’s leveraging probably a well over $1 billion investment by Brightline and the rail that they’ve established here," Gimenez said. "Residents from all over Miami-Dade County are going to benefit tremendously as they take the trains here to Aventura and then other points in between and further up."

Bovo, who is vying to succeed Gimenez as mayor, said the expansion of Brightline to Aventura gives the entire northeast section of the county an opportunity to leave their cars at home.

"We’re going to change the way we move in Miami-Dade County," Bovo said. "It may not be for many of us, but it will definitely be for a generation that is coming."

Goddard said officials haven't determined prices for travel to and from the Aventura station but tickets will be distance based as in the case of Brightline's other stations.

"We’re still working out the exact pricing — Miami to Aventura — but it will be something less than the $15 we’re charging to Fort Lauderdale, he said.

Alice Bravo, director of transportation for Miami-Dade County, said transportation officials estimate that the Aventura station will generate one million boardings. The construction will include a pedestrian bridge across busy Biscayne Boulevard to Aventura mall.

"We have a multimodal hub nearby at the mall. We have a hub where bus routes from Broward County, from Dade County, all come to this bus hub in the Aventura Mall," Bravo said. "All those people that connect here already can then come and use this train — and use it to either go to Fort Lauderdale or downtown or vice versa."

Construction of the Aventura station is expected to bring 400 jobs to the area and generate more than $90 million per year in economic impact, which amounts to $2.7 billion over 30 years.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Sally Heyman, who championed the Aventura project, said she looks forward to breaking free of the area's traffic gridlock.

"I am a lifetime resident, and I can’t wait to be mobilized with an alternative beside a car, a bicycle or a Segway to get someplace in a long distance," she said. "This is going to do it, and we will take people from all over the county and bring them up here. We literally have a lockdown in good times from October through the beginning of January — Christmas, holiday season, snowbird season — when there’s so much congestion."