All Aboard Florida

Commentary

Brightline goes Virginal. What next?

Everybody has been watching Brightline, the bold upstart operator of private-sector passenger trains in a nation where every other scheduled train is operated in the public sector, either by Amtrak or by a local transit authority. There has been a lot of news about Brightline lately, and this writer originally intended to focus on the customer experience and the railroad’s plans for the future.

Abrams to lead S. Florida RTA

Palm Beach County Commissioner Steven L. Abrams was selected Executive Director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA).

BrightRed under way to Florida

BrightRed, the fifth and final higher-speed trainset for All Aboard Florida’s Brightline passenger rail service, has departed the Siemens USA plant in Sacramento, Calif., and is on its way to South Florida, traveling 3,052 miles across the southern U.S. via the Union Pacific and CSX through eight states (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida).

Brightline Composite

Brightline going biodiesel

The Siemens-built, Cummins QSK-95-powered Charger diesel-electric locomotives hauling All Aboard Florida’s Brightline higher-speed express passenger trains connecting West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami along the Florida East Coast Railway main line will be fueled with blended biodiesel under a two-year contract with Florida Power & Light Company (FPL).