Virgin Enterprises, Britain, has launched legal proceedings against U.S. private passenger rail operator Brightline to recoup $ 251.3 million it says it is owed after Brightline pulled out of a 20-year deal to use the Virgin brand.
The honeymoon between Brightline, the private-sector luxury passenger train in Florida, and the Virgin brand is over. It lasted for fewer than two years. When we reported about the change in branding from Brightline to Virgin Trains USA late in 2018, it appeared that the edgy and innovative Brightline brand was headed for oblivion. It now seems that the COVID-19 virus is responsible for the reversal of events that led to a parting of the ways. Whatever the reason, the Brightline brand will now live again.
Virgin Trains USA (VTUSA), more commonly known under its original name, Brightline, has reached a $120 million agreement with Wabtec for the implementation of Positive Train Control.
Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono hosts Commuter Rail Coalition Secretary-Treasurer Steven Abrams, Executive Director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (Tri-Rail). Joining them is Joe Yesbeck, National Director Rail and
A railroad battle is shaping up in Miami. Two competitors want to serve potential commuters into Brightline’s new Miami Central downtown hub. It may not be as dramatic as the Chile War, when the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Denver & Rio Grande Western literally fought armed skirmishes to determine who could build new rail lines in the New Mexico Territory in the early 1880s, but it nevertheless is a battle.
According to a report in the Review Journal, a California finance committee unanimously approved the allocation of $600 million in tax-exempt bonds to go toward the Virgin Trains USA high-speed rail project between Las Vegas and Southern California.
Virgin Trains USA (formerly Brightline) recently broke ground on 170 miles of new track in the intermodal facility located in the South Terminal at the Orlando International Airport as part of the company’s Phase 2 expansion into Central Florida.
Virgin Trains USA (formerly Brightline) recently announced that the Hubbard Construction Company, Wharton-Smith Inc., The Middlesex Corporation, Granite and HSR Constructors will be the rail construction contractors for Phase 2 of its expansion between Orlando and South Florida.
Virgin Trains USA (formerly Brightline) has closed on $1.75 billion in private activity bonds (PABs) underwritten by Morgan Stanley and purchased by 67 different investors to help fund the company’s expansion from West Palm Beach, on the Florida East Coast Railway, to Orlando. Virgin described the closing as “one of the largest PAB transactions to date.”
Sir Richard Branson and Patrick Goddard marked the beginning of Brightline’s transition to Virgin Trains USA on April 4 with a ceremony at Virgin MiamiCentral Station that unveiled the passenger rail service’s new branding graphics. Brightline is the express intercity passenger rail service that currently connects Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, with expected service to Orlando and Tampa, and between Las Vegas and Southern California.
