The one thing that will help -- long term -- is adding electrification and going at least dual mode on its locomotives. Also, and this is a biggie: removing as many at-grade crossings (or all of them) between Miami Central and West Palm Beach. It will make speeds faster and operations safer. But for now, this is definitely a plus to have in South Florida, and soon enough in Central Florida too. I can only hope they go all the way to Tampa.
I've have ridden both the Brightline and Trirail. It is the difference between Trirail and Brightline is simple. Its the difference between a Limo and a bus. Trirail runs directly to the airport. Its reasonably priced. I have a senior citizen discount(half price) on tri-rail. Yes Brightline is better but its much more expensive.
Yeah, Brightline strikes me as catering to a luxury travel market. There is nothing wrong with that, but it's not realistic or sustainable to expect this level of luxury for commuters or even leisure travel for the average person. Looks nice, but something with the speed and comfort of Brightline, without all the extras, is really what we need to aim for.
@@chrisinnes2128 The trains, maybe. But posh lounges (not just for first class, but everyone)? Bookable cars offered by the railroad to shuttle you to the other end? It doesn't seem sustainable as mass transit to me.
@@chrisinnes2128 I've ridden UK intercity rail and you are right it is great but its also highly subsidized. UK national rails is 20,000 miles. Amtrak alone is more. the UK is 1/40 the size of the US.... and the Beeching cuts, cut many miles and stations....
Having done a round trip on Brightline back in Feb 2018, I’m impressed and certainly in favor of the expansion plans. The key for ridership, namely tourism, will be accessibility to the major gateway airports, FLL, MIA, and MCO.
MetroRail is an above ground heavy rail. Both the Green and Orange Line connect with TriRail. And there's also the automated downtown circulator that you did not recognize, the very popular MetroMover.
This makes my heart sing. Very well done video and explanation. It's stuff like this that will continue to encourage people to ride trains. Despite the pandemic, Brightline has been a powerhouse and a stunning example of "higher speed" rail travel in the US. train cars look great. I can't wait until Brightline makes the connection to Jacksonville. That will be their new HUB outside of Miami Central to link up with Amtrak!!!
Native Miamian here. Just a couple of notes. One, you can't call MetroRail a subway. We can't have subways because the water table is too high, they'd flood, break down and sink into the aquifer. MetroRail is an elevated line for most of its trackage. Two, the other railway you saw is the automated MetroMover, a monorail system that runs in three loops through Brickell, Downtown (the "Inner Loop"), and Omni (which is coming to be referred to lately as the Arts & Entertainment District). Believe it or not, in terms of ridership, it is the most successful "people mover" type monorail in the United States -- though there are only two others; one in Jacksonville and one in Detroit, and to be fair, that doesn't mean it's doing any great amount of business, and it has failed to reach the expected daily ridership mark of 43,000 that they had hoped to hit in 2000. In fact, the county gave up on charging fares for it several years ago because the revenue it was generating was worth less than the effort to charge it. All that said, good video! I enjoyed seeing my hometown, and I love the fact that the mode of transportation that sparked its founding is making its way back to the forefront.
Excellent video! Private railroads like this is what the nation needs in order to make rail transport efficient. Nice to see that Brightline Plus is up and running.
What is needed is a private/public partnership, where public entities build & maintain new higher-speed corridors and private companies own & operate their trains on them. We do this for out public roadways and for air travel, it will work for rail as well...
Why do American trains make so much noise? I would think that one warning horn (don’t know the English word) would be sufficient to let everyone know there’s an incoming train?
It's because of American drivers the locomotive has to blare it's horn for five minutes. Drivers listen to car stereos at full blast with the windows shut here. Otherwise you have cars darting in front of the train at the last second.
Brightline was born out of a need of connecting people to the heart of cities in one train ride. From 1968 to 2018, there had been no passenger service on the FEC. It’s a really beautiful train and it’s a glassfelt ride through the cities. TriRail originally had plans to have service on the FEC in the 80s but the FEC was not in favour of having passenger service at that time. Boy has that changed now!
While I'd like to be optimistic about Brightline, every video I watch on RUclips about Brightline always features a mostly empty train, even before covid. The direct connection to MCO is a must, and the discontinuation of Disney's shuttle from MCO to the Disney resorts will help. It'll be interesting to watch. I just feel for the prices they're asking for the tickets, it's too much for how slow the train is. Yes, the trains are nice but is the point to point time much faster? Especially as they add more stations, the trip time will only go up. I'm curious to see how the Texas Central project pans out here where I live. imo trains need to be fast to finally convince Americans to ride.
As long as it is in the same time frame as car travel, it will win over people who don’t want to do that drive each way. It’s a unique corridor where it is too short to fly and annoying (and boring) to drive. It will be interesting to see for sure.
@@LucidFL no it will be faster than cars before we include traffic jams and if your from Florida you would know to expect the time to travel to be double what it would be if you averaged the normal speed on the highway and the peak speeds will be 125mph going to Orlando so no it will be much faster
Yes, it looks like Brightline is setting a new standard. Amtrak is starting to order the venture coaches. What Amtrak needs to do is strongly survey it’s customer base, and especially discuss with crew members the needs to improve the interior car experience, food , storage , etc. Brightline head end locomotives look modern and up to date looking like other European HSR locomotives. Let’s hope Amtrak will take a hard look at Brightline an adapt similar services.
Two locomotives and 4 cars, seems to be effective if the limitations of turning facilities are not available.... The frequency and availability of the unit, is what determines how well they serve the prospective customers..... We at one time had some form of rail based transportation in all towns in the US..... We seem to have a long way to go?
Brightline doesn’t even go fast enough to be considered high speed even in the most charitable definition of it. Still it’s cool to see more options and I wish we could get the same kind of funding highways enjoy to build out rail and public transit in general.
Kudos to you for making these videos....they are so informative, and enjoyable for a train lover like myself. Keep up the great work...your videos matter and are making a big difference!!! I feel myself actually there with you, on each train journey you travel....thundering along the tracks in beautiful, sunny Florida....a delightful way to spend a cold rainy morning in my New England living room!!!! Can't wait for the next trip!!!
The funny thing about American railroads and Brightline is no exception, financing is always messy. There were always bankruptcies, consolations, take overs, liquidations, reorganizations, abandonment and rebuilding. That has been the case in the UK and Japan, too. (There is an old book -- The Life and Decline of the American Railroad by John F. Stover, Oxford University Press, 1970 -- that covers that.) This is all good. It's back. It needs to go faster than 130km per hour but don't know know how they can do that if it has roads crossing tracks. It needs to be at least 160km. The minimum speed for Amtrak needs to be there, too. Thanks for the post.
Elimination of at-grade crossings is key to high-speed operation, this is why the California High-Speed project is taking so long. In the end, it will be worth it...
getting the grade crossings removed takes local government agreement(and sometimes local money). No south Florida politicians want to spend money on high speed rail that is mostly for the well to do...
I'm praying for that to happen. Wishful thinking of course since FGAR (Florida Gulf Atlantic railroad) bought the mainline from Jacksonville to Pensacola here in the panhandle from CSXT they don't seem to be doing very much business other than just storing cars. You rarely see a decent sized train anymore up here. It's needless to say that they are just wasting miles of good tracks that could definitely be put to good use by passenger train especially here in Tallahassee
From a japanese standpoint I have to say that the brightline trains are like the only american trains that look good, but still not nearly as cool as ours. American locomotives look so big, clumsy and ugly, like toasters. EMUs also are really ugly Only the modern electric locomotives on the east corridor look good, but that's because those are the same ones as in europe
Americans move heavy freight by rail. They have invested on moving people by road mostly hence so ugly locomotives but they do their designated freight job well enough, but they need electrification to let the diesels work on more passenger trains. Trains need to be physically appealing to the eye. Our Indian Railway rolling stock look much better but they are greatly ergonomic.
Brightline has only three stops- right now. Brightwail will actually go to Orlando in a few years. Trirail has many more stations, and is actually quite comfortable. It is also inexpensive- and has its last stop right inside Miami International Airport. You can walk to flights. They are very different experiences. Also, you can walk to the Miami downtown metromover from the Miami Brightline station. You can also connect to the Miami Metro elevated train if you take Trirail to Miami and go to Coral Gables and Coconut Grove.
I know Brightline's real ambition is to be inter-city, but Miami is a perfect location for a high speed commuter service. Miami Dade, Broward and West Palm counties that are commonly affiliated as part of the same South Florida metro area are over 100 miles long in the norh/south direction, but owing to being crammed between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades is only about 30 miles wide at its widest point (with most of the activity concentrated nearer to Atlantic coast), thats the perfect scenario for a train. Not to mention its Florida, so its flat as a pancake.
Imagine ALL CARS honking at every railway-crossing ? As a European I don’t understand American behavior… 😱 Btw, this train looks like a Japanese or French commuter train/-half-train. And ; 79mls/h -really ?- is commuter train speed in Europe. InterCity’s running at up to 125 -and then High Speed begin…!
00:24 No and no^^ High-Speed rail with diesel locomotives on non-electrified lines is very rare and the train station is tiny compared to the giant hubs in Japan. But at least it's a nice precursor for real high speed rail (150-200 mph; electrified; digital signaling). But the interior looks good.
Wonderful very informative video thank you for making it. I have a question I didn't see any accessible spots for a wheelchair is this compatible with wheelchair users? Thank you so kindly for your answer and have a wonderful day.
I was a bit confused by your opening question. As a european I would not believe this to be a high speed train. It's diesel. Diesel and high speed are mutually exclusive. That being said the train does look nice, a little colour for once, not really a fan of this omnipresent silver you guys usually paint your trains with... 🤷♂️ Also does a 4 car train really need 2 locomotives? Why not operate with a driving cab instead? And is it smart business-wise to have a fully stocked and staffed bar in every station? I mean that's gotta cost a lot of money. And whenever I go to a station it's usually to take a train and not to have a drink. Can't really imagine it's profitable, which means it's being paid for by tickets, which thus are more expensive than they really needed to be. Sorry ... this sounds like I'm overly critical here. Maybe this is just how things are in the US. Over here this business concept would probably fail. A private company trying to compete with state owned german railway company Deutsche Bahn on long distance routes would usually go for a cheaper ticket price and slower speed instead of going for fancy looks and (by US standards) high speed. So it'll be interesting to see if they can pull it of and if Americans are ready and willing to get on a train again. 😊
The 2 locomotives will be needed for when the trainsets are expanded to maintain 110 mph speeds. Siemens also didn't offer a cab car when the trainsets were ordered in 2014
@@AVeryRandomPerson 2 locomotives for such an extremly short train? Maybe only because it's diesel? 1st gen ICE trains had 2 locomotives, but apart from them most regional express train services had one loco at one end of the train and then like 5 to 8 passenger cars / double-deck passenger cars with the last one having a cab as well. Latest double deck trains don't have a dedicated locomotive at all, but have the engine somewhere underneath the floor and basically have cabs on both ends of the train
@@EnjoyFirefightingthey plan to expand to 10 cars per train and the Orlando station will open up literally in like 2 weeks with speed of 125mph on that route, then 110 to west palm beach. It only goes 80 mph for the last hour because there are 4 stops in between west palm beach and Miami and there are road crossings
Great Video. Wondering how far the station is from Miami's Cruise Ship terminal? Same for Ft Lauderdale? Might be a good vacation option to get from Orlando to the Cruise Ship Terminals in South Florida.
I’m fairly certain it is within the distance of the free shuttle that Brightline offers. It is most definately within the current 3 mile (soon to be 5 mile) range of the Brightline+ ride service option.
I would hate it if trains would honk en ring at every level crossing. You’d be unlucky to live close to a level crossing. My commute by train to Utrecht has no level crossings, nor has my train trips to Amsterdam of to Schiphol Airport. Only to The Hague I have a few level crossings, but they are guarded by barriers and lights, so the train doesn’t have to honk or ring the bells. It would not be usable in our country, we have trains at least every hour, in peak hours every 30 minutes. The small station I use has 8 Sprinters (commuter trains) an hour and 4 Intercity trains an hour (they don’t stop at my station) during the day and 4 extra Sprinters and 4 extra Intercity trains at peak hours. Added by the international trains and freight trains that also use the 4 tracks. There are 4 tracks between Utrecht and Amsterdam, 2 for Sprinter trains and 2 for Intercity trains. You would get bonkers if every train honks and rings that passes by. Update your infrastructure and you won’t need all this noise.
You don't understand, the trains have to whale on their horns like that to warn motorists, otherwise they'll try to sneak around the barrier gates and dart right in front of the train.
@@edwardmiessner6502 only in the US they have to ... elsewhere the trains will go down the track, pass level crossings one after another either and they won't honk at any of them. Neither the slow trains on side tracks nor faster trains on main tracks. The lowered gates will keep traffic out, some modern crossings will also detect if the level crossing is clear or if there's an obstacle and upon that data will give a green or red signal to the train
I wonder if Brightline will continue south from Tampa to Sarasota/Bradenton, Fort Myers, Naples, and then come back east straight into downtown Miami to make a loop, and add a stop at MIA?
@@ForeLeafTravel Like 2 years ago, I was going to college at UMiami, and I went to visit some family in Tampa. I did that drive at 2am, in November. When I tell you it was absolutely terrifying do I mean it. The lights just stop at some point and in the rearview mirror they are just a haze fading into the darkness and when that happens you're just all alone for literally 100 miles, nothing. Well, not strictly true, I had a Florida state trooper pull me over because I was doing like 110. When he asked me why I was going so fast I told him that being out in the middle of nowhere so early in the morning was unnerving he nodded his head solemnly, told me to watch out for alligators and sent me on my way. That did not assuage my nerves in the slightest.
I wish to Indonesia Have the Clean Biodiesel Locomotives just like SCB-40 but i think Siemens can't go to Indonesia because our country using the EMU High Speed Rail Jakarta Bandung and Will extend to Surabaya.
They are only allowed to run at a maximum speed of 78/9 miles at the moment as motorists don't no how to handle grade crossing as what happened on the 1st day of restarting where a Grandmother tried to go up the line after going through the barrier arms and tried to take herself and her grandchildren out .
The Tri-Rail/Brightline relationship reminds me of the train systems in South Africa. One looks exactly like the brightline (probably the same manufacturer) and has mostly white and foreign travelers. The other local train slower with older stock and packed with noticeably blacker customers
Sorry, but your enthusiasm demonstrates why this is a bad sign for train service in the US. I understand that compared to what you have Brightline seems like a big improvement but amenities and shiny new trains are not the most important thing. A good train service should be, forst of all, reliable and be able to replace driving or flying and a service that closes down for 20 months because it's not profitable is the worst thing that can happen to rail service and represent a horrible service. You compare it to Amtrak or Try Rail- companies that has to fight for every dollar they have and are obligated to continuously provide service for an affordable price for everyone especially, es you yourself mentioned, the least served cities in the US where it's the only option for many. This is what a good train service should do. Amtrak is far better than Brightline as they provided service throughout one of the worst pandemics ever when all the world closed down. They did not have the luxury of shutting down for 20 months. That's why a good train service cannot be privetly owned. What you need to do in the US is to understand this and support and demand heavy government investment in trains - it won't be profitable but the bust to the economy and for each one of you will add far more to your economy than any huge investment. You had, in the past, an excellent train service backed by the government but it disappeared because it was private. In Europe it was the same but the difference was that governments understood how important it is so they nationalized it to keep it going and it paid off. I live in Europe, enjoin a great train service. There are plenty of shops at the train station, places to seat and even a "premium lounge" but it's not important as it's not an airport. I go out of my house, take the metro/bus/tram to the train station and catch the train. I don't need to wait, I can board it up to 2 minutes before it departs. I wish I could believe that it's the start but everything around it says it's not. You'll succeed when you'll stop trying taking shortcuts and actually invest public funds to build a real rail service.
To be fair I don't think brightline is going for trying to replace the car, but to rather target the commute that some might have (I personally know of people commuting from West Palm to Miami, in South Florida traffic I do not know how that is possible). South Florida is very suburban except along the coasts, and although it has a lot playing for it (the South Florida metro area is very long and narrow), there really isn't a good way to serve all of the suburbia in a cost efficient way.
"Florida is a special case"(being served by now 3 rail services upon its southeast to now Central Coast.) The rest of Amtrak is actually doing great especially in the Central United States and then leaving Washington DC towards Central and Southwestern Virginia. I don't think there is any Passenger Service North of West Palm Beach other them Amtrak along the entire Eastern Seaboard until you get to Washington DC in point of fact...which is pretty remarkable considering how valuable all this track now is to include Freight Rail which you left out here.
Federal regulations prohibit higher speeds on tracks with grade crossings, which is a shame cause we had higher speeds on those tracks back in the 1930s and 40s
It seems like the main advantages of brightline are: new service, previously not covered by rail; new rolling stock; private company may be able to avoid some of the political wrangling that public projects face. That said, I wouldn't be shocked if the service ends up going bankrupt and either getting a bailout or public ownership akin to what's happening with private operators in the UK. It's a great option either way for South Florida, I'd just still rather be on the DC - NYC corridor for rail than in Florida, even with Brightline.
Great work on the video! One minor correction though. At the 2:08 mark you say that the state is working on a connection to get Tri-Rail into Downtown Miami. That connection (called the IRIS connection) between the CSX tracks out west and the FEX tracks in the east was completed in November 2017. Here is a 5-year old conceptual video on it ruclips.net/video/tlS8IsPuC9c/видео.html Since the Brightline Downtown Miami station opened in May 2018, it’s just been excuses from Brightline and Tri-Rail about Positive Train Control (PTC) for the delays in addition to Brightline dragging its feet on allowing Tri-Rail (and competition for the local market) to come into the station.
Good Afternoon To You Brightline My Amazing Train Friend And Don't You Give Up Without A Fight And I Got Your Back Brightline My Train Friend And Brightline You Rock
The Dash 8's are more yard locomotives for Amtrak these days from my understanding. It would be pretty pointless to give one a heritage livery. They were rare to begin with, and now even more rare to actually see mainline services.
Not to diminish the accomplishement of Frorica East Coast line starting "Brightline" BUT... - This ia ground level freight line with tons of level crossings in an urban area. Can't be high speed. - The "Venture" coaches are actually 1990s Siemens Viaggios adapted to US FRA standards (aka: made of heavy steel). Alas, VIA Rail in Canada also bought them. The Eruopean version of Viaggios has been in use since the 1990s (in particula ÖBB in Austria is their biggest customer). Amtrak placed an order initially due to default of a previous order with another manufactuerr, and this year placed a major order to use those to replaced equally heavy all steel Amfleet 1 cars. (the Silver service uses Amfleet III and they are staying a few more years). - The locos are heavy Diesel. No diesel loco has operated a "high speed train". So one needs to temper the marketing of this service. They can make it convenient, they can make it comfortable, then can make it faster than car. But this will never be a "high speed train". Had the stations been built with eelevated tracks, they could have progressively built elevated tracks in irban area to skip over all level cosssings. But with station built with tracks at ground level, that will be hard to ever correct.
I lived in South Florida in the early 80s and was present when the Miami Metrorail was opened. It cost $880 mln dollars for 22 miles of elevated track and to build Brightline elevated all the way to West Palm Beach and beyond would cost multiple billions of state and federal dollars, something not popular with Florida Republican politicians.
@@edwardmiessner6502 Yep costs a lot. So would bridging every level crossing. But without that, you can't advertise a service as "high speed". But if initially only teh stations had been built for elevated tracks, they could progressively elevate them section by section over the years.
It would require a complete redesign of how Amtrak is operated. A more practical approach would be a public/private partnership which would make the government the owner and maintanence operator of the trackage and R.O.W., while private companies would contract to operate their trains on them...
Hopefully brightline can get trains back to high speed like 150 mph speed. What is offered in Brightline stations is common in stations around the world in MODERN countries
My early morning trip south in Premium was light, just a few up front (which is how I was actually able to get all the shots I wanted). There is a lot more demand at the moment for the more discounted Smart fares, which I think is a great deal right now. I can tell you there is a lot of excitement from locals who are suffering from the traffic again. There is a demand, will it be completely visible right away? I honestly can’t say, it’s too early to have these answers.
They needed another stop between west palm beach and fort lauderdale. Boca was a practical choice but Delray would have been a better cultural choice. Orlando is expected to be online by 2022 but based on when they expected the original line to open vs actually opened. It will be 2024.
Nah construction is on time to finish late next year go watch Roaming Rail Fan, he does great videos on the construction and u can really see how for along it is. For the most part they are already laying the track and some parts of the line are open already
Plus, Boca Raton is getting a stop. They are also planning to put a stop next to the Aventura mall. Seriously people, actually ride the train before spewing nonsense about how slow and impractical it is.
If the trains run north and south, I don’t follow how you identify seats as north and south? Wouldn’t they be east or west? How about port and starboard 😂😂
Good luck for Brightline! I hope this year they will be stronger than ever and hope the rest of US may follow suit in the future
The one thing that will help -- long term -- is adding electrification and going at least dual mode on its locomotives. Also, and this is a biggie: removing as many at-grade crossings (or all of them) between Miami Central and West Palm Beach. It will make speeds faster and operations safer. But for now, this is definitely a plus to have in South Florida, and soon enough in Central Florida too. I can only hope they go all the way to Tampa.
I've have ridden both the Brightline and Trirail. It is the difference between Trirail and Brightline is simple. Its the difference between a Limo and a bus. Trirail runs directly to the airport. Its reasonably priced. I have a senior citizen discount(half price) on tri-rail. Yes Brightline is better but its much more expensive.
Yeah, Brightline strikes me as catering to a luxury travel market. There is nothing wrong with that, but it's not realistic or sustainable to expect this level of luxury for commuters or even leisure travel for the average person. Looks nice, but something with the speed and comfort of Brightline, without all the extras, is really what we need to aim for.
Let me simplify this for you Brightline is express and tri-rail is local simple no need to overthink things
This is just what intercity rail all looks like in the UK
@@chrisinnes2128 The trains, maybe. But posh lounges (not just for first class, but everyone)? Bookable cars offered by the railroad to shuttle you to the other end? It doesn't seem sustainable as mass transit to me.
@@chrisinnes2128 I've ridden UK intercity rail and you are right it is great but its also highly subsidized. UK national rails is 20,000 miles. Amtrak alone is more. the UK is 1/40 the size of the US.... and the Beeching cuts, cut many miles and stations....
Having done a round trip on Brightline back in Feb 2018, I’m impressed and certainly in favor
of the expansion plans. The key for ridership, namely tourism, will be accessibility to the major
gateway airports, FLL, MIA, and MCO.
MetroRail is an above ground heavy rail. Both the Green and Orange Line connect with TriRail. And there's also the automated downtown circulator that you did not recognize, the very popular MetroMover.
This makes my heart sing. Very well done video and explanation. It's stuff like this that will continue to encourage people to ride trains. Despite the pandemic, Brightline has been a powerhouse and a stunning example of "higher speed" rail travel in the US. train cars look great. I can't wait until Brightline makes the connection to Jacksonville. That will be their new HUB outside of Miami Central to link up with Amtrak!!!
Brightline is setting the bar high for other rail companies in North America.
Native Miamian here. Just a couple of notes. One, you can't call MetroRail a subway. We can't have subways because the water table is too high, they'd flood, break down and sink into the aquifer. MetroRail is an elevated line for most of its trackage. Two, the other railway you saw is the automated MetroMover, a monorail system that runs in three loops through Brickell, Downtown (the "Inner Loop"), and Omni (which is coming to be referred to lately as the Arts & Entertainment District). Believe it or not, in terms of ridership, it is the most successful "people mover" type monorail in the United States -- though there are only two others; one in Jacksonville and one in Detroit, and to be fair, that doesn't mean it's doing any great amount of business, and it has failed to reach the expected daily ridership mark of 43,000 that they had hoped to hit in 2000. In fact, the county gave up on charging fares for it several years ago because the revenue it was generating was worth less than the effort to charge it.
All that said, good video! I enjoyed seeing my hometown, and I love the fact that the mode of transportation that sparked its founding is making its way back to the forefront.
Excellent video! Private railroads like this is what the nation needs in order to make rail transport efficient. Nice to see that Brightline Plus is up and running.
What is needed is a private/public partnership, where public entities build & maintain new higher-speed corridors and private companies own & operate their trains on them. We do this for out public roadways and for air travel, it will work for rail as well...
I'd say the best train in the US by far is the Acela. Brightline has a nice luxury service. A little too slow for my taste, but more power to them!
Why do American trains make so much noise? I would think that one warning horn (don’t know the English word) would be sufficient to let everyone know there’s an incoming train?
It's because of American drivers the locomotive has to blare it's horn for five minutes. Drivers listen to car stereos at full blast with the windows shut here. Otherwise you have cars darting in front of the train at the last second.
People can be absolute assholes around railroad tracks...hence louder the better..
Brightline was born out of a need of connecting people to the heart of cities in one train ride. From 1968 to 2018, there had been no passenger service on the FEC. It’s a really beautiful train and it’s a glassfelt ride through the cities. TriRail originally had plans to have service on the FEC in the 80s but the FEC was not in favour of having passenger service at that time. Boy has that changed now!
While I'd like to be optimistic about Brightline, every video I watch on RUclips about Brightline always features a mostly empty train, even before covid. The direct connection to MCO is a must, and the discontinuation of Disney's shuttle from MCO to the Disney resorts will help. It'll be interesting to watch. I just feel for the prices they're asking for the tickets, it's too much for how slow the train is. Yes, the trains are nice but is the point to point time much faster? Especially as they add more stations, the trip time will only go up.
I'm curious to see how the Texas Central project pans out here where I live. imo trains need to be fast to finally convince Americans to ride.
I think it will be barely faster than travel by car once it connects to Orlando
It was crowded two years ago on a weekend from Fort Lauderdale to Miami.
As long as it is in the same time frame as car travel, it will win over people who don’t want to do that drive each way. It’s a unique corridor where it is too short to fly and annoying (and boring) to drive.
It will be interesting to see for sure.
@@LucidFL no it will be faster than cars before we include traffic jams and if your from Florida you would know to expect the time to travel to be double what it would be if you averaged the normal speed on the highway and the peak speeds will be 125mph going to Orlando so no it will be much faster
Florida is so underrated. The infrastructure is so good there
Yes, it looks like Brightline is setting a new standard. Amtrak is starting to order the venture coaches. What Amtrak needs to do is strongly survey it’s customer base, and especially discuss with crew members the needs to improve the interior car experience, food , storage , etc. Brightline head end locomotives look modern and up to date looking like other European HSR locomotives. Let’s hope Amtrak will take a hard look at Brightline an adapt similar services.
Two locomotives and 4 cars, seems to be effective if
the limitations of turning facilities are not available....
The frequency and availability of the unit, is what
determines how well they serve the prospective customers.....
We at one time had some form of rail based transportation
in all towns in the US.....
We seem to have a long way to go?
Most yes but all not really
So, Brightline and Amtrak can't even use the same stations? Why does the U.S. find passenger trains so extraordinarily hard to do?
Politics
Cars = more money
@@xavier3211 more of WHO'S money?
@@matthewhall1062 The state via tolls, the car manufacturers via the production of new cars and the maintenance of old ones come to mind
This is Brightline, Amtrak wishes they can be this good. Until their Seimens rolling stock starts arriving.
Give it time and the Amtrak chargers will be out
?? over in the west coast they already use new Siemens chargers. Nice trains
@@ciello___8307 I was talking about the passenger rolling stock. Customers don't care about the engine pulling, the pay for what they're sitting in.
Brightline doesn’t even go fast enough to be considered high speed even in the most charitable definition of it. Still it’s cool to see more options and I wish we could get the same kind of funding highways enjoy to build out rail and public transit in general.
Kudos to you for making these videos....they are so informative, and enjoyable for a train lover like myself. Keep up the great work...your videos matter and are making a big difference!!! I feel myself actually there with you, on each train journey you travel....thundering along the tracks in beautiful, sunny Florida....a delightful way to spend a cold rainy morning in my New England living room!!!! Can't wait for the next trip!!!
I rode it from Miami just before the shutdown. Fabulous. John in Chicago
Good luck bright rail!
The funny thing about American railroads and Brightline is no exception, financing is always messy. There were always bankruptcies, consolations, take overs, liquidations, reorganizations, abandonment and rebuilding. That has been the case in the UK and Japan, too. (There is an old book -- The Life and Decline of the American Railroad by John F. Stover, Oxford University Press, 1970 -- that covers that.) This is all good. It's back.
It needs to go faster than 130km per hour but don't know know how they can do that if it has roads crossing tracks. It needs to be at least 160km. The minimum speed for Amtrak needs to be there, too.
Thanks for the post.
Elimination of at-grade crossings is key to high-speed operation, this is why the California High-Speed project is taking so long. In the end, it will be worth it...
@@timnewman1172 paid for by the Feds. Florida prefers its Federal Transportation money go to highways. States rights.
this video is surprizingly relaxing
getting the grade crossings removed takes local government agreement(and sometimes local money). No south Florida politicians want to spend money on high speed rail that is mostly for the well to do...
I hope this gets electrified. That would be great.
Thanks for sharing!! I hope they will extend their lines to Alabama and Georgia 🤞
I'm praying for that to happen. Wishful thinking of course since FGAR (Florida Gulf Atlantic railroad) bought the mainline from Jacksonville to Pensacola here in the panhandle from CSXT they don't seem to be doing very much business other than just storing cars. You rarely see a decent sized train anymore up here. It's needless to say that they are just wasting miles of good tracks that could definitely be put to good use by passenger train especially here in Tallahassee
From a japanese standpoint I have to say that the brightline trains are like the only american trains that look good, but still not nearly as cool as ours. American locomotives look so big, clumsy and ugly, like toasters.
EMUs also are really ugly
Only the modern electric locomotives on the east corridor look good, but that's because those are the same ones as in europe
Americans move heavy freight by rail. They have invested on moving people by road mostly hence so ugly locomotives but they do their designated freight job well enough, but they need electrification to let the diesels work on more passenger trains. Trains need to be physically appealing to the eye. Our Indian Railway rolling stock look much better but they are greatly ergonomic.
Brightline has only three stops- right now. Brightwail will actually go to Orlando in a few years. Trirail has many more stations, and is actually quite comfortable. It is also inexpensive- and has its last stop right inside Miami International Airport. You can walk to flights. They are very different experiences. Also, you can walk to the Miami downtown metromover from the Miami Brightline station. You can also connect to the Miami Metro elevated train if you take Trirail to Miami and go to Coral Gables and Coconut Grove.
I know Brightline's real ambition is to be inter-city, but Miami is a perfect location for a high speed commuter service. Miami Dade, Broward and West Palm counties that are commonly affiliated as part of the same South Florida metro area are over 100 miles long in the norh/south direction, but owing to being crammed between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades is only about 30 miles wide at its widest point (with most of the activity concentrated nearer to Atlantic coast), thats the perfect scenario for a train. Not to mention its Florida, so its flat as a pancake.
Not gonna lie, the Dash-8 loco wears that Paint scheme way better than the P-42 locos in front.
Imagine ALL CARS honking at every railway-crossing ?
As a European I don’t understand American behavior… 😱
Btw, this train looks like a Japanese or French commuter train/-half-train.
And ; 79mls/h -really ?- is commuter train speed in Europe. InterCity’s running at up to 125 -and then High Speed begin…!
Brightline will eventually go 110 mph on the Orlando extension, but it's not safe to do so on the current section
Actually the Orlando line will be 125 mph (200 km/h)
@@OntarioTrafficMan
As my commuter train does…
I wish brightline is connecting all major cities and towns of Florida. Amtrak signs a deal with Bright line.
Once brightline goes to Orlando I’ll be taking it.
It really is a disgrace the US has no high speed train network across the country! 🧐
So cool! I love this video! I just took the train with my family and did a Vlog on it!
00:24 No and no^^ High-Speed rail with diesel locomotives on non-electrified lines is very rare and the train station is tiny compared to the giant hubs in Japan. But at least it's a nice precursor for real high speed rail (150-200 mph; electrified; digital signaling).
But the interior looks good.
@ForeLeaf The Metro Mover is that train you were not certain of.
Wonderful very informative video thank you for making it. I have a question I didn't see any accessible spots for a wheelchair is this compatible with wheelchair users? Thank you so kindly for your answer and have a wonderful day.
As always very informative, enthusiastic and thorough
I like your content
19:15 it’s nice to see Brightline has included USB A and USB C outlets
You are wrong about privately run rail it’s actually very common in the 21st century especially in Europe and japan via open access bidding on routes
EU rail subsidies amounted to €73 billion in 2005
Nice video like and subscribed from Czech Republic 🙂👍👍👍
If the train runs north to south the south to north how can the seats be on the north and south side as the man in the video states?
I was a bit confused by your opening question. As a european I would not believe this to be a high speed train. It's diesel. Diesel and high speed are mutually exclusive.
That being said the train does look nice, a little colour for once, not really a fan of this omnipresent silver you guys usually paint your trains with... 🤷♂️
Also does a 4 car train really need 2 locomotives? Why not operate with a driving cab instead?
And is it smart business-wise to have a fully stocked and staffed bar in every station? I mean that's gotta cost a lot of money. And whenever I go to a station it's usually to take a train and not to have a drink. Can't really imagine it's profitable, which means it's being paid for by tickets, which thus are more expensive than they really needed to be.
Sorry ... this sounds like I'm overly critical here. Maybe this is just how things are in the US. Over here this business concept would probably fail. A private company trying to compete with state owned german railway company Deutsche Bahn on long distance routes would usually go for a cheaper ticket price and slower speed instead of going for fancy looks and (by US standards) high speed. So it'll be interesting to see if they can pull it of and if Americans are ready and willing to get on a train again. 😊
It is the real estate that is what allows for operation, similar to how most of Europe and Japan’s rail networks are set up 🤪
The 2 locomotives will be needed for when the trainsets are expanded to maintain 110 mph speeds. Siemens also didn't offer a cab car when the trainsets were ordered in 2014
@@AVeryRandomPerson 2 locomotives for such an extremly short train? Maybe only because it's diesel?
1st gen ICE trains had 2 locomotives, but apart from them most regional express train services had one loco at one end of the train and then like 5 to 8 passenger cars / double-deck passenger cars with the last one having a cab as well. Latest double deck trains don't have a dedicated locomotive at all, but have the engine somewhere underneath the floor and basically have cabs on both ends of the train
@@AVeryRandomPerson like this modern one: ruclips.net/video/3RsyVZtJm2w/видео.html
@@EnjoyFirefightingthey plan to expand to 10 cars per train and the Orlando station will open up literally in like 2 weeks with speed of 125mph on that route, then 110 to west palm beach. It only goes 80 mph for the last hour because there are 4 stops in between west palm beach and Miami and there are road crossings
Great Video. Wondering how far the station is from Miami's Cruise Ship terminal? Same for Ft Lauderdale? Might be a good vacation option to get from Orlando to the Cruise Ship Terminals in South Florida.
I’m fairly certain it is within the distance of the free shuttle that Brightline offers.
It is most definately within the current 3 mile (soon to be 5 mile) range of the Brightline+ ride service option.
Fort lauderdales port is really close to downtown, so is the airport, Miami is a bit of a hike but there are good bus options to get there
Brightline already has plans to directly serve PortMiami
This line should be electrified
World's slowest high speed rail.
I’ve been on a bright line train before. I’m my opinion it is the best in the US.
I know that this is America but do you have to go through securiy to get on a train? In Europe you just walk on without anything.
I would hate it if trains would honk en ring at every level crossing. You’d be unlucky to live close to a level crossing. My commute by train to Utrecht has no level crossings, nor has my train trips to Amsterdam of to Schiphol Airport. Only to The Hague I have a few level crossings, but they are guarded by barriers and lights, so the train doesn’t have to honk or ring the bells. It would not be usable in our country, we have trains at least every hour, in peak hours every 30 minutes. The small station I use has 8 Sprinters (commuter trains) an hour and 4 Intercity trains an hour (they don’t stop at my station) during the day and 4 extra Sprinters and 4 extra Intercity trains at peak hours. Added by the international trains and freight trains that also use the 4 tracks. There are 4 tracks between Utrecht and Amsterdam, 2 for Sprinter trains and 2 for Intercity trains. You would get bonkers if every train honks and rings that passes by. Update your infrastructure and you won’t need all this noise.
Is that all the trains there are my local station has a train almost every 10 minutes all day
You don't understand, the trains have to whale on their horns like that to warn motorists, otherwise they'll try to sneak around the barrier gates and dart right in front of the train.
@@edwardmiessner6502 only in the US they have to ... elsewhere the trains will go down the track, pass level crossings one after another either and they won't honk at any of them. Neither the slow trains on side tracks nor faster trains on main tracks. The lowered gates will keep traffic out, some modern crossings will also detect if the level crossing is clear or if there's an obstacle and upon that data will give a green or red signal to the train
@@edwardmiessner6502 ruclips.net/video/O3h0PDV2VNg/видео.html
Why were there chickens at the metro station 🤣
I wonder if Brightline will continue south from Tampa to Sarasota/Bradenton, Fort Myers, Naples, and then come back east straight into downtown Miami to make a loop, and add a stop at MIA?
Having done that drive from Fort Myers to Miami, it would be amazing if they had something like that!
@@ForeLeafTravel Like 2 years ago, I was going to college at UMiami, and I went to visit some family in Tampa. I did that drive at 2am, in November. When I tell you it was absolutely terrifying do I mean it. The lights just stop at some point and in the rearview mirror they are just a haze fading into the darkness and when that happens you're just all alone for literally 100 miles, nothing. Well, not strictly true, I had a Florida state trooper pull me over because I was doing like 110. When he asked me why I was going so fast I told him that being out in the middle of nowhere so early in the morning was unnerving he nodded his head solemnly, told me to watch out for alligators and sent me on my way. That did not assuage my nerves in the slightest.
Great video! At 14:31 there’s a Dyson Airblade Tap in the restroom! I love those things! I need to ride Brightline sometime in my life.
I wish to Indonesia Have the Clean Biodiesel Locomotives just like SCB-40 but i think Siemens can't go to Indonesia because our country using the EMU High Speed Rail Jakarta Bandung and Will extend to Surabaya.
Enjoyed the vid and comments. Including the COST would be very helpful, here and on other vids.
I'd love a miami metro video!
Holy fukkk....such a beautiful breath of fresh air. Do they plan to do long distance too?
Tampa Bay sorely needs inter-city high speed rail.
It's a pretty nice regional express train but it's not highspeed rail 😂
They are only allowed to run at a maximum speed of 78/9 miles at the moment as motorists don't no how to handle grade crossing as what happened on the 1st day of restarting where a Grandmother tried to go up the line after going through the barrier arms and tried to take herself and her grandchildren out .
The Tri-Rail/Brightline relationship reminds me of the train systems in South Africa. One looks exactly like the brightline (probably the same manufacturer) and has mostly white and foreign travelers. The other local train slower with older stock and packed with noticeably blacker customers
“Ahh South Africa”
great video! I live in Pensacola and have been following Brightline from the beginning. wish Miami would keep their sidewalks cleaner, so trashy.
It’s a big city. That’s the norm!
Wow , thank you so...
Been following BriteLine long time..
Been waiting for the 1st one....
You got it ...THANX.... !
Sorry, but your enthusiasm demonstrates why this is a bad sign for train service in the US.
I understand that compared to what you have Brightline seems like a big improvement but amenities and shiny new trains are not the most important thing. A good train service should be, forst of all, reliable and be able to replace driving or flying and a service that closes down for 20 months because it's not profitable is the worst thing that can happen to rail service and represent a horrible service. You compare it to Amtrak or Try Rail- companies that has to fight for every dollar they have and are obligated to continuously provide service for an affordable price for everyone especially, es you yourself mentioned, the least served cities in the US where it's the only option for many. This is what a good train service should do. Amtrak is far better than Brightline as they provided service throughout one of the worst pandemics ever when all the world closed down. They did not have the luxury of shutting down for 20 months. That's why a good train service cannot be privetly owned. What you need to do in the US is to understand this and support and demand heavy government investment in trains - it won't be profitable but the bust to the economy and for each one of you will add far more to your economy than any huge investment. You had, in the past, an excellent train service backed by the government but it disappeared because it was private. In Europe it was the same but the difference was that governments understood how important it is so they nationalized it to keep it going and it paid off.
I live in Europe, enjoin a great train service. There are plenty of shops at the train station, places to seat and even a "premium lounge" but it's not important as it's not an airport. I go out of my house, take the metro/bus/tram to the train station and catch the train. I don't need to wait, I can board it up to 2 minutes before it departs.
I wish I could believe that it's the start but everything around it says it's not. You'll succeed when you'll stop trying taking shortcuts and actually invest public funds to build a real rail service.
To be fair I don't think brightline is going for trying to replace the car, but to rather target the commute that some might have (I personally know of people commuting from West Palm to Miami, in South Florida traffic I do not know how that is possible). South Florida is very suburban except along the coasts, and although it has a lot playing for it (the South Florida metro area is very long and narrow), there really isn't a good way to serve all of the suburbia in a cost efficient way.
That will only happen when corporate America demands it. We the People do not have a voice anymore, taxation without representation and all that.
Need a video of the experience with checking a bike with Brightline
"Florida is a special case"(being served by now 3 rail services upon its southeast to now Central Coast.) The rest of Amtrak is actually doing great especially in the Central United States and then leaving Washington DC towards Central and Southwestern Virginia. I don't think there is any Passenger Service North of West Palm Beach other them Amtrak along the entire Eastern Seaboard until you get to Washington DC in point of fact...which is pretty remarkable considering how valuable all this track now is to include Freight Rail which you left out here.
Great to see our friends catching up.
Hopefully they look into electrifying their route eventually
79mph? I am glad you are excited, but you need to watching some more Shinkansen videos.
Its because its not grade seperated in that area.
Federal regulations prohibit higher speeds on tracks with grade crossings, which is a shame cause we had higher speeds on those tracks back in the 1930s and 40s
The Seats are on west/east sides
Northeast winters are not "brutal." Minneapolis winters are. NYC winters are mild in comparison.
Boston can be brutal. Have you ever experienced being on the waterfront on a humid 40 degree February day with a stiff breeze off the water? Raw! 🥶
You know good old Ron DeSantis is dying right now a new faster way to get around and it's not a car 😱
Well that's how you serve and protect the community 🤣
Super cool 👍
Interesting video! But you should’ve at least taken a wine with your premium and an orange juice to make a breakfast Mimosa.
It seems like the main advantages of brightline are: new service, previously not covered by rail; new rolling stock; private company may be able to avoid some of the political wrangling that public projects face. That said, I wouldn't be shocked if the service ends up going bankrupt and either getting a bailout or public ownership akin to what's happening with private operators in the UK. It's a great option either way for South Florida, I'd just still rather be on the DC - NYC corridor for rail than in Florida, even with Brightline.
Great work on the video! One minor correction though. At the 2:08 mark you say that the state is working on a connection to get Tri-Rail into Downtown Miami. That connection (called the IRIS connection) between the CSX tracks out west and the FEX tracks in the east was completed in November 2017. Here is a 5-year old conceptual video on it ruclips.net/video/tlS8IsPuC9c/видео.html
Since the Brightline Downtown Miami station opened in May 2018, it’s just been excuses from Brightline and Tri-Rail about Positive Train Control (PTC) for the delays in addition to Brightline dragging its feet on allowing Tri-Rail (and competition for the local market) to come into the station.
Tri Rail trains don't fit into Miami Central, the Tri Rail board has known this for several years but only recently admitted so...
With the added new stops will the line ever really be high speed?
Good Afternoon To You Brightline My Amazing Train Friend And Don't You Give Up Without A Fight And I Got Your Back Brightline My Train Friend And Brightline You Rock
The Dash 8's are more yard locomotives for Amtrak these days from my understanding. It would be pretty pointless to give one a heritage livery. They were rare to begin with, and now even more rare to actually see mainline services.
Not to diminish the accomplishement of Frorica East Coast line starting "Brightline" BUT...
- This ia ground level freight line with tons of level crossings in an urban area. Can't be high speed.
- The "Venture" coaches are actually 1990s Siemens Viaggios adapted to US FRA standards (aka: made of heavy steel). Alas, VIA Rail in Canada also bought them. The Eruopean version of Viaggios has been in use since the 1990s (in particula ÖBB in Austria is their biggest customer). Amtrak placed an order initially due to default of a previous order with another manufactuerr, and this year placed a major order to use those to replaced equally heavy all steel Amfleet 1 cars. (the Silver service uses Amfleet III and they are staying a few more years).
- The locos are heavy Diesel. No diesel loco has operated a "high speed train".
So one needs to temper the marketing of this service. They can make it convenient, they can make it comfortable, then can make it faster than car. But this will never be a "high speed train".
Had the stations been built with eelevated tracks, they could have progressively built elevated tracks in irban area to skip over all level cosssings. But with station built with tracks at ground level, that will be hard to ever correct.
I lived in South Florida in the early 80s and was present when the Miami Metrorail was opened. It cost $880 mln dollars for 22 miles of elevated track and to build Brightline elevated all the way to West Palm Beach and beyond would cost multiple billions of state and federal dollars, something not popular with Florida Republican politicians.
@@edwardmiessner6502 Yep costs a lot. So would bridging every level crossing. But without that, you can't advertise a service as "high speed". But if initially only teh stations had been built for elevated tracks, they could progressively elevate them section by section over the years.
"No diesel loco has operated a "high speed train"." Intercity 125 (HST) would like a word...
The Brightline product puts Amtrak to shame.
Bring brightline to California!
The plan is to have them operating on a new line between So.CA and Las Vegas, it should be a profitable venture ...
@@timnewman1172 the biggest problem is that train will only go to victorville, which is not near LA
Great report, I wish Amtrak would adopt the Brightline model.
It would require a complete redesign of how Amtrak is operated. A more practical approach would be a public/private partnership which would make the government the owner and maintanence operator of the trackage and R.O.W., while private companies would contract to operate their trains on them...
Theres no subway in Miami,metrorail only goes above ground.The waterline doesnt allow for a subway to be built.
Love this!
Hopefully brightline can get trains back to high speed like 150 mph speed. What is offered in Brightline stations is common in stations around the world in MODERN countries
Brightline is only expected to go 110 mph
@@AVeryRandomPerson 125 mph.
No information about ticket cost - you need to include this! As well as travel times.
...but are there any passengers?
Some! They are still new and just getting back into service after a break
My early morning trip south in Premium was light, just a few up front (which is how I was actually able to get all the shots I wanted).
There is a lot more demand at the moment for the more discounted Smart fares, which I think is a great deal right now.
I can tell you there is a lot of excitement from locals who are suffering from the traffic again. There is a demand, will it be completely visible right away? I honestly can’t say, it’s too early to have these answers.
Very nice video, hoping to revisit soon myself
You stated that Tri-Rail was the only was the only commuter service in Florida, but what about SunRail? Or did I misunderstand you?
He said South Florida, SunRail is considered central
Cool video. This isn't high speed rail though.
I love bright line trains West Palm Beach and tri rail trains and Amtrak trains and metrorail trains and fec freight trains and csx trains
They needed another stop between west palm beach and fort lauderdale. Boca was a practical choice but Delray would have been a better cultural choice.
Orlando is expected to be online by 2022 but based on when they expected the original line to open vs actually opened. It will be 2024.
Nah construction is on time to finish late next year go watch Roaming Rail Fan, he does great videos on the construction and u can really see how for along it is. For the most part they are already laying the track and some parts of the line are open already
Plus, Boca Raton is getting a stop. They are also planning to put a stop next to the Aventura mall. Seriously people, actually ride the train before spewing nonsense about how slow and impractical it is.
I’ve been waiting for this
Can you make phone calls while the train is in motion compared to the airlines???? Thanks!
Sure can! Just remember to be respectful of other passengers around.
No the engine will blow up if you do that
@@LucidFL lol
Why do American trains have such a annoying bell on the platform? I don't see a need for it
It’s the only intercity train line that is not utter garbage
Bravo, muy buen video, gracias .
If the trains run north and south, I don’t follow how you identify seats as north and south? Wouldn’t they be east or west? How about port and starboard 😂😂