All Aboard Florida Unveils Brightline
All Aboard Florida Unveils Brightline
During a news conference on Monday, All Aboard Florida unveiled Brightline, the name for its high-speed rail service that will run between Miami and Orlando. Executives from the $2.5 billion project expressed their hopes for Brightline as a better alternative to highways and airports.
“With the introduction of Brightline, we set out to reinvent what traveling by train can mean in America, making it a forward-leaning solution that is a smarter alternative to more cars on crowded roads,” Michael Reininger, president of All Aboard Florida, said in a statement.
The privately owned train line will connect South Florida with stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach going up to Orlando, with the trip from Miami to Orlando taking about three hours. That’s compared to the 3 hours and 20 minutes it takes by car, assuming, of course, there’s not much traffic.
Alongside the announcement made at the MiamiCentral station construction site came new conceptual designs for the Brightline train cars, which will feature a black and beehive-yellow color scheme. The trains pulled by the distinctive yellow locomotives will be bright orange, green, red, blue, and pink. The designs and branding were conceived by New York’s Rockwell Group, headed by architect David Rockwell.
Brightline will launch with five, four-car trains with capacity for 240 passengers each. The service plans to double that by June 2018, with ten sets of seven-car trains that can hold 356 passengers.
Brightline amenities include complimentary Wi-Fi, power outlets at each seat, food and beverage options, bicycle and luggage storage, as well as wheelchair accessibility. The cars will also be pet friendly. The line between Miami and West Palm beach is slated to open mid-2017, with the final stretch to Orlando opening later that year.
Besides the Brightline train service itself, All Aboard is building a massive mixed-use development called MiamiCentral, located in downtown Miami. The station will have three office and residential towers built above the rails, along with a separate super tower and parking garage with retail space for a grocery store.
Brightline will serve Orlando with a new rail station that creates direct access to all the theme parks, such as Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Orlando, and to attractions and shopping.
Sources: “All Aboard Florida unveils branding of its rail service,” The Real Deal; “All Aboard Florida unveils Brightline name, images of colorful new trains,” www.tcpalm.com; and All Aboard Florida