MIAMI — Two events this week could provide insight into the look and expansion efforts of Florida passenger service Brightline as it becomes Virgin Trains USA.
Virgin Group founder and hospitality impresario Richard Branson will be hosting an “invite-only” event at Brightline’s MiamiCentral downtown terminal this Thursday, April 4. Joined by Virgin Trains USA president Patrick Goddard, the invitation says Branson is expected to “unveil the station’s new look as it transitions to Virgin MiamiCentral.”
Trains News Wire will be attending the event.
The next day at the Orlando International Airport Hyatt Regency, a second hearing is set on a Virgin Trains USA request to market bonds to help finance its expansion to Orlando and then Tampa. The 3 p.m. hearing by the Florida Development Finance Corporation board of directors will evaluate the request to market $950 million in private activity bonds. The authority and the U.S. Department of Transportation have already approved the sale of $1.75 billion in bonds.
A previous hearing of the finance authority was adjourned on March 6 after two hours of testimony, with 27 speakers both supporting and opposing the bond sale still waiting to express their views, according to FloridaPolitics.com’s Scott Powers. [See “Virgin Trains bond request in limbo as meeting ends without decision,” Trains News Wire, March 7, 2019.]
Virgin Trains USA has negotiated with previous detractors Citizens Against Rail Expansion and Martin County along the Treasure Coast north of West Palm Beach. But having lost in court when a judge dismissed its complaints that federal environmental rules were not followed, Indian River County continues to publicly challenge the company’s Orlando venture on the basis of “shaky financial information and uncertain costs,” county attorney Dylan Reingold told Powers.
It isn’t clear whether Branson will attend the Finance Corporation’s hearing, nor whether the Miami event will also reveal a definitive “new look” for the five Brightline trainsets it has been operating in revenue service south of West Palm Beach since January 2018.
So I guess the NYMB’s would rather see more highway traffic and deaths instead of a safe way to travel around Florida. Florida needs travel alternatives and the nay sayers are delaying the choice of safer more reliable transportation. Furthermore the state population is outgrowning its highway system. Unbelievable
It will be interesting to see what new paint scheme will be adopted on the trains after the transition. Will it be similar to the paint scheme on Virgin Trains in the UK? I hope not. Or, will there be creative originality? Times like these are when we need Raymond Loewy the most.