The Company Changing Rail in America: Brightline
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- Опубликовано: 5 май 2023
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Brightline has taken North American rail by storm, and the company is already planning a second line - which will be faster AND electric! But is it all it's cracked up to be?
Special thanks to @RoamingRailfan , @DownieLive , and The Greenway for Mac for the Brightline footage used in this video!
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Ever wondered why your city's transit just doesn't seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!
Reece (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.
I think there's a big unintended side-benefit of building HSR alongside highways: 1) Being in a car and seeing the train overtake you makes you think "hmm, maybe we should go by train next time". 2) Being in a train overtaking a bunch of cars reinforces that you made the right decision and you should keep taking the train! Of course this also works in reverse, so you need to actually make the trains go faster than cars. lol
especially when cars are going about 75mph and the train is going over 200mph
Been there, done that while travelling on a French highway. The TGV just goes WHOOOSH!
The speed of the train doesn’t matter when you still need a car to get somewhere once in the city.
@@matthew8153 That’s why we need to upgrade LA Metro and RTC systems accordingly. I’m sure a few BRT routes to the strip would be heavily used.
@@CityLifeinAmerica this is where Asian and European cities are very successful in doing - seamless connections between the main railway stations and transit hubs like metro, bus and taxi stations.
I'm surprised your map didn't mention the fact the Orlando expansion will expand to Tampa eventually, or the fact they're considering a branch to Jacksonville.
No date was given on when construction to Tampa could begin..... you're looking at 10 years min as the $???? in funding has not even been approved yet and the Orland to Tampa route will be the most expensive part to build out when compared to the rest of the line.
I hope they do a branch to Jacksonville, because
A) more trains are good,
B) going to Jacksonville almost certainly means going the extra 40 miles or so to Savannah, and Savannah is a beautiful city that deserves good trains, and
C) the more Brightline’s network grows, the more cities are connected by good rail transit, and the more people will use the network. The good old days when basically every town in the US had a train station came about thanks exclusively to private rail companies. If there’s a chance, even a small chance, that we could get that back, it’s worth doing everything we can to help it. If Brightline ends up being successful, that could be the first embers of a true renaissance of American railroading
@@stevencipriano3962 the extension to the Convention Center and Disney Springs is much further along but you're not far off. I'm thinking 5 years to Disney Springs and 7 to Tampa.
Brightline's parent company already owns the tracks up to Jax. It's just a matter of upgrades but I don't think it's as valuable as the Tampa extension. They'd need a lot of infill stations between Jax and WPB and that's years away.
Brightline Florida is a great project, but it’s basically a modern commuter rail built on existing. ROW(making it a much easier project) It’s not electrified and the grade crossings are problematic given the behavior of South Florida drivers. (hundreds of people have died 😢) Bright line West is a legit ambitious project, especially if they can link it up to CAHSR in the future.
Honestly anything that would allow me to avoid LAX as much as possible when I’m travelling to LA is fine by me
SNA and LGB exist for a reason
@@atomicgiraffe250 yep. Also BUR
ONT is a just short shuttle ride away from the Rancho Cucamonga station where you are eventually supposed to be able to take Brightline to Vegas.
I flew into John Wayne a couple weeks ago, though i then had to take three and a train to get to my destination.
@@atomicgiraffe250 only Santa Ana has flights to Canada and not even connected to rail transit like Burbank or LAX
Yes, the current Brightline trains in Florida are ridiculously short, but they have already ordered 20 more cars to increase them to first 5 cars per train next year, and than 6 cars per train in 2025. The stations are already build to 10 cars a train, so they thought at least about that.
They are running with 5 cars already.
For obviously an imbalanced comparison, Japan runs 16 car trains on the Shinkansen. That's 1300 passengers.
@@mrmaniac3 and tgvs run 16 passenger cars with double decker trains and only has 1200 capacity, how cramped is shinkansen??
@@cooltwittertag they look pretty roomy from pictures
One of main advantage of rail is that gets you near centre of the city, if the main hubs are near the airport it's losing a huge selling point.
Well as Reece pointed out in the video, that's where last-mile transit should be coming into play, especially given the situation in Vegas where, as Reece points out, there really isn't a good way to get a regional rail line into the city center (at least not without severely disrupting the existing development in the area). Transit connections certainly aren't ideal when they can be avoided due to the need to get off the regional train and get onto the local transit service (whether the local be bus, rail, or a combination of the two), but the challenges there can largely be ameliorated by providing adequate frequency to the local service; the main thing that pisses people off is when they have to sit around for 15 minutes or longer, because that kind of wait pretty much immediately sparks thoughts of "I could've just driven my car and I wouldn't be having to deal with this" among people raised in car culture. And for a tourist city like Las Vegas, NV, USA (or really for any city, but ESPECIALLY such a tourism-heavy city), there's no excuse for the city to be lacking in local transit service in order to accommodate the many who arrive by plane, train, or bus.
They're working on a new station near the attractions and convention center as we speak..plus Sunrail extensions to the airport for a direct train connection to local cities.
@@Urbanhandymanthey should just build a cut n cover metro line from Downtown Las Vegas south along the Strip
@@Urbanhandyman it’s a shame that the tourism agency would clutch pearls over a decade of disruption that leads to over a century of improved access, increased property values
It’s a big advantage, but airports tend to be well connected so it’s a decent easy alternative point. A city like Orlando is incredibly sprawled so it’s hard to find a WAY better option
Great video, Reece. One thing you didn’t mention in talking about the ability of freight and pax to coexist on the Florida East Coast Railway is… that Florida East Coast Railway owns and developed Brightline. FEC is actually the reason Miami and South Florida are developed in the first place; Henry Flagler built the line south from Jacksonville creating hotels and drawing tourists to St. Augustine and points south, all the way to Key West. It’s kind of a nice bookending to their history that they would reinstate a new kind of private passenger rail in the US.
yeah private passenger railline in us should be reborn
Florida East Coast Railway doesn't own Brightline, and never has. They had the same parent company, Florida East Coast Industries, but they sold Florida East Coast Railway. But Brightline still owns the passenger rights for the whole line I believe.
@@felixtv272 but comes to the same point Passenger and Freight are related, which helps coexting of them.
@@Neuzahnstein not really. Look at British passenger rail and tell me how waves of changing ownership have helped anything to progress. Private ownership and profitability are red herrings.
@@MrTaxiRob seems more like a UK problem more than a private ownership one. Japan and Spain have private passenger rail services with large success.
I like your optimism about how a mediocre transit system can develop into an excellent one. That is a point I often see ignored by Brightline critics.
Maybe it would be worthwhile to look for historical examples of poor transit services improving over time.
it's all about connections, even when they system itself is sus.
@@MrTaxiRob You're right, it's all about connections -- and LA to LV is NOT IT.
@@Apelles42069 no but if the feeder connections exist and are reasonably priced and scheduled, it renders the shortcomings of Brightline moot.
Air travel is great, but planes don't pick you up at your door, do they? You will always need some intermediate mode to connect to ANY long distance transit system whether by cab or Uber, or some other transit or paratransit solution.
If you have ridden Brightline before, i can’t imagine how it could be considered poor by any stretch of the imagination. The stations alone are better than any other train station in the entire US besides maybe Grand Central. And the service from GC is horrible compared to BL
@tomoconnell2320 I have not ridden Brightline yet, and am looking forward to it coming to Orlando.
My comment was not meant as a criticism, but as a reminder that a transit system is always a work-in-progress. The solution being built now (diesel powered, 125 mph max speed, numerous at-grade crossings) can always be upgraded. I'm sure that most high-speed passenger rail services in Europe and Asia were upgrades from earlier (poorer) rail lines.
I didn't think that Florida would be the center of the passenger rail revolution in North America, but here we are. . .
Tell me about it! I grew up poor in Orlando using their awful transit and would have never imagined this. Now it's got a high speed train coming to town.
They have to have trains, if they want them to run on time
Perhaps Floridans are so crazy their insanity for once lead them to do something everyone else is too nervous to invest in. Sometimes the insane accidentally do something more sane than anyone else. Though of course they keep having issues of Florida Man jumping the gates.
You must not remember over a decade ago when Obama tried to give us 2 billion dollars for this public light rail system... Gov Scott wanted his friends to get a slice of the pie
That’s the advantage of not falling into the early adopter trap: you get to learn from everyone else’s mistakes.
Two things about Brightline West. 1. The Ontario Airport connection to Rancho Cucamonga is an important link in terms of ridership and 2. Rancho is an alternative connection. The ultimate goal for BW is to connect with CAHSR at Palmdale. This is in all of their literature.
And from Ranchi Cucamonga to LA Union Station via part of the CAHSR San Bernardino branch, whenever that will be built.
What I don't get is why? Why stop the trains at Rancho if the track to LA Union Station is literally already there? all you need is either electrify the corridor or if that is to complicated for legal/ownership reasons use dual mode trains that will switch to diesel at Rancho and run to Union. It's not rocket sience.
@@mancubwwa There is not enough capacity to run Metrolink and Brightline on the same tracks. Remember, part of the track between Los Angeles and Rancho Cucamonga is single tracked with no place to double track it. It would probably cost more to double track the needed portions than the cost to build the rest of the project (you would have to tear down dozens, if not hundreds, of houses and businesses). It would also take a decade to do and might not happen at all because the people who live in said houses will sue you. Building rail in built up urban areas sucks. It's simply not worth the hassle and expense.
@@Geotpf im sorry, that's bullshit.
If COURSE it will be worth it to Upgrade the line and make it fully double tracked.
The economic benefits would be far greater than the costs.
It would be like the upgraded Caltrain line in the bay area.
There is no real alternative.
The Ontario Airport Connection is another one of Elon Musk’s over promise under deliver Teslas in Tunnels systems, that will (allegedly) connect the Rancho Cucamonga Metrolink with Ontario Airport. Snake Oil at its finest!
Brightline is not the first "gap filler" technology used in North America. The New York City subway's South Ferry station used gap fillers on its curved platforms for decades.
Those are installed on the platforms, not the trains.
Remember that LA, Vegas and Florida are still very car dependent, building parking spaces can easily repurpose into residential and commercial real estate as car usage drops.
The LA to Vegas train will be packed. We (Vegas) go to LA constantly and people from LA come here. I'm not a rail fan however, this is one rail I'll use. I'll need a parking spot near the train and I'm gone.
@@TheBandit7613 Just wondering, why aren't you a rail fan?
Brightline has the right idea to bring rail to Los Angeles to Las Vegas. But Brightline needs to do two things to ramp up its positive notoriety: (1) Finish the Florida line to at least Orlando first. Getting one construction project done first can gives Brightline momentum for the next construction project. (2) Have the construction bring to Los Angeles and not be short of Tinseltown. Anything short of LA would make the Las Vegas-Los Angeles route incomplete. The train has to go to LA.
@@martincruz8319 The Orlando extension is operational
@@TheBandit7613 That's the kind of reception that'll make for a virtuous cycle over the span of a decade or two: intercity train works great, therefore extend more and faster transit into it, therefore local service gets good enough to do without the car. It definitely had a role in how Japan's urban rail became so good - Tokyo was choked with traffic in the early 60's, but all the commercial interest that came with the Shinkansen(which was pushed through in skunkworks fashion by deliberately underestimating costs and diverting other project funds) helped to change that and align everything around the new fast link.
Rancho Cucamonga is such a fun thing to say
Cucamonga sounds like a word to describe the dysfunctional process of building California’s high speed rail project.
I hope that Brightline succeeds. Intercity rail in the US isn't that good, so this could be a real plus!
It seems to be doing well!
I’d give anything for a high speed rail like between Chicago and Milwaukee. Brightline feel like the only hope for the eventual Indianapolis-Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison-Minneapolis regional rail line.
Seems like a reasonable smart move. Amtrak Hiawatha seems so hodgepodge. Hiawatha service back in the old days was decent for it's day.....just kinda slow.
I’d love to see one that goes across NYS. And maybe one that can reliably cross into Canada. Even if it’s to pick up GO or something like that into Toronto.
There is so much business that goes between Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany. I know a lot of people who commute from either Buffalo or Syracuse to Rochester a few times a week. There is so many reasons why this would be an excellent thing. That, and I’d love to just stick it to the man for charging way too much on Tolls on the Thruway (I-90) and going completely cashless to you don’t actually know how much you pay.
CityNerd even has shown how much potential a midwestern HSR network has.
i think i read some where Amtrak increase the speed between Chicago and St Louis to 110 mph (177kph) while not that fast it seem to be a sign. I barely trust private companies to do anything.
@@MarioFanGamer659 Didn't his analysis show that it's not quite the slam dunk us Midwestern train enthusiasts would prefer it to be?
Brian Kelly is running the Cal HSR project now. So it is happening. The tempo will pick up on Cal HSR. And the San Francisco corridor electrification is 90 % complete. So Cal HSR is moving, just hard to tell some days.
I live in Fort Lauderdale and have been on Brightline a number of times. Mostly for pleasure. They have great quality and its always been exactly on time. It’s a pleasure. I plan on using the Orlando route a few times a year. The crashes are a problem. Growing up in the area it was common to snake your car around the barriers because the freight trains are so slow. But people are still getting used to high speed trains. Also, there are many homeless / drug addicts that live right next to the tracks. Finally, they run a great service to Miami that drops you off real close to sport stadiums and offer free shuttle service if you don’t want to walk. It is very popular here.
I can co-sign this comment. I'm from London, England & have used Brightline a few times when I've visited family & friends in South Florida. It's an excellent service. The stations & trains are immaculately clean, the staff are friendly & informative, & often they do great deals. We took advantage of one that got my daughter entry into the Frost Museum in Downtown Miami for $5. And the one time we arrived really late into Fort Lauderdale because the bridge over New River was stuck, Brightline then credited my account with them with $35 a few days later. I didn't complain or even contact them about the delay, I just got a message to say I'd received credit. Now that's customer service.
One of the major problems with parking at train stations is that it usually is badly planned and acts as a huge physical barrier for walking or transit connections
I agree. You should always have the transit hub right next to the station, with parking further away...if necessary with a parking shuttle bus to connect the more distant parking
@@dasy2k1 It would make a huge difference I think if parking was designed with a street layout "baked in" from the get go, so infill was easy to achieve
Completely agree. Parking is put into an automatically more convenient position by being in between the building and the street
public transportation is already a worse step and you want remove parking too and have people walk like in europe, which is just not suitable and good
Public transit is good, actually
@@plankton50 public transport when well designed is good and is better than driving!
But poorly planned and badly maintained public transport is worse than useless
I lived for 15 years in France, one of the things I enjoyed the most was floating at high speed by TGV train, this transport service has been operating throughout the country since 1981
Damn, this was another solid video! Even though the “Brightline movement” concerns me as being extremely fragile, I really want to see something change with our current status of intercity rail; not just in the US, but all of North America.
Hey, I recognize you.
@@TheRealE.B. 🤫shhhhh
No you don’t
brightline will probably not fill the whole map of the USA. what is amtrak doing? what are trirail sunrail and metrolink doing? they all should step up their game, and not let brightline do everything.
High speed rail connecting LA to Vegas is a great idea. A lot of people just want to get to Vegas and come back.
If I'm not mistaken, the San Bernardino line is also part of the future plan for CAHSR so electrifying it hopefully has some momentum!
It is part of the phase 2 extension to San Diego. There are currently no plans to actually build phase 2, only ideas that they might one day in the far future.
Phase 2 of CAHSR is currently lower on the likelihood list of being built than the Cascadia HSR.
we'll be long gone before we see that tho lol
Brightline really should be celebrated, sure, it would be better if the State and Federal govt were building these projects, but since they're not, Brighltine is filling that void and doing as much as it can to boost transit in the US. Plus, if the projects go well and provide good service they'll get people to lobby and campaign for more transit when they realise how useful it is.
Just a brief update to your video, more specifically the issue of last-mile connectivity at the station in Las Vegas. Apparently, Brightline is going to institute a ride-share shuttle service, using smallish circulator style vans to take train passengers from the Brightline station to various hotels and other major destinations in Las Vegas, and vice-versa. They are also working with the shuttle services offered by the various major casinos in Vegas to service the train station, as well as the airport, convention center, etc.
Great to collaborate with you @RMTransit
RR love your vids been watching for years
Thanks for the help!
Amtrak has a rule stating that routes that are less than 700 miles need state funding. I think if congress removed that rule from Amtrak then Amtrak might be able to obtain an profit. Looking at Florida's size Amtrak and Brightline could coexist. Amtrak would serve the smaller cities in the state and they could connect with Brightline service in Florida's major cities.
Amtrak was within a stone's throw of _breaking even_, operations-wise, then the pandemic happened. Their strategy leading up to that point and apparently now seems to be to grow revenue by establishing additional services.
7:07 “amtrack doesn’t exist to make money they exist to serve the public” gotta stop putting profit with public services it tanks the perception
@@blvck5943 Public Law 91-518, Sec 301states the following:
There is authorized to be created a National Railroad Passenger
Corporation. The Corporation shall be a for profit corporation, the
purpose of which shall be to provide intercity rail passenger service,
employing innovative operating and marketing concepts so as to fully
develop the potential of modern rail service in meeting the Nation's
intercity passenger transportation requirements. The Corporation will
not be an agency or establishment of the United States Government.
It shall be subject to the provisions of this Act and, to the extent
consistent with this Act, to the District of Columbia Business Corporation Act.
The right to repeal, alter, or amend this Act at any time is expressly reserved
From what I read there Amtrak is a for-profit corporation.
@BLVCK I took a look into it further and while it was started in 1970 to be for profit, it was repealed in 78. So yes, you are correct. However the point still remains that they should not be dependent on state funding to run lines that actually make sense.
@@blvck5943 with profit Amtrak could expand services instead of relying on politically dependent state subsidies.
Now, if only motorists could stop trying to "beat the train" on the level crossings on the Brightline route.
These car drivers have also in the past tried to beat the freight trains, when they should’ve stopped, and that’s been happening for decades
7:53 There actually is a railway line running parallel to the strip and where the old vegas station used to be i dont know why they didnt ask the company owning the land to share and build a station there.
Bright line will still make most their money off real estate the location they’re at let’s them develop 33 acres and is going to be next to a new stadium. If they built on the strip I imagine it would be hard to acquire that much land and then make money off of it.
Google maps show that the area is where the building was js being redeveloped
Could always extend to a better location further down the highway, perhaps the downtown!
Prior to the Desert Wind Amtrak train being canceled in 1997, the station was inside the Plaza Casino, in downtown Vegas, across from The Fremont Street Experience.
@@RMTransit There's no real incentive for an expansion downtown for the company except maybe a few extra ticket sales. If they were to extend downtown they would need to buy land around the new station to develop but most the land on the strip is owned by the casinos, the land on the strip is already so expensive because of the value of being close to the other casinos and a train station might not increase the land value enough. The area they're in is more up-and-coming allowing them to capitalise on already growing demand. The new station could potentialy shape the growth of this newer section of the city into something more transit-friendly. I think it would be much more useful to have a rapid transit system that could connect the South Vegas residents and businesses to Vegas proper. But knowing the area the best they'll probably get is coach buses up Las Vegas Blvd but still better than nothing.
Brightline West does have plans to eventually go along the CAHSR route into LA Union Station from Palmdale.
So I live in LA and while I can confirm that Rancho Cucamonga is WAY out of the way for most Angelenos I get why they built there. There are neighborhoods in LA that would be a lot better in terms of volume of foot traffic and existing public transit connections (off the top of my head, Santa Monica, the USC campus, Hollywood, Koreatown, DTLA like you mentioned) but building in any of those places was almost guaranteed to be a nightmare in terms of getting local buy in and finding the real estate for it, especially with how NIMBYish LA tends to be. Putting the station in the IE basically skirts around the biggest challenge of building infrastructure in LA and lets the project get off the ground on a way quicker timetable. We'll have to see if how well this takes off but at the very least I can absolutely see folks in the IE taking big advantage of this for day trips to Vegas since they'd only have to drive a half hour or less to the station and honestly that might be a big enough market to justify the investment on its own 🤷🏻♀️ guess we'll just have to see how it pans out, I'm excited to see some actual high speed rail in the US regardless.
Yep. LA -> LV works because 95% of it goes through mostly empty desert that no one except a few fringe environmentalists care about.
The knock on effect can be good. While I am holding my breath on it actually happening, Orlando is looking into using the bright line extension as an excuse to improve the sun rail commuter service
Sun Rail needs a stop at the airport and Brightline needs to connect to Tampa. Thus they are collaborating on the Sunshine Corridor project to build tracks along Taft Vineland Road.
I wonder if partnering with Sunrail will actually prove to be a mistake for Brightline, which delays their Tampa connection by years.
Yep, it’s healthy!
Perfectly fits the person I envision when I think train enthusiast.
I was just reading an article published by Brightline. If Brightline West has the funds they will add a new corridor from their future Victor Valley station to the California High Speed Rail station in Palmdale. Then they would just use California HSR to LA Union Station but will still have a branch to Rancho. That gives passengers two ways to travel
As a local, I really disagree on the extension of the L Line (future A Line) to Rancho. At most I could see an argument to extend the L Line south to the Pomona stations of the Riverside Line, but to me, there is more of an argument to improving Metrolink service. At least as it stands now, the L Line extension doesn't do a whole lot more than what better Metrolink service offers, and TBH that is what we should focus on given the San Bernardino Line is already one of Metrolink's most heavily used lines. If we double tracked more of the San Bernardino Line, electrified it, and performed grade separations/crossing closures further east, we would have a much more functional line that still connects to downtown and offers a connection to the L Line with minimal wait times
NYC have Gap filling stations where the platform retracts once the train leave the station and expand for boarding passengers
You have to realize that over 10 million people live within 40 miles of Rancho Cucamonga. Southern California is much larger than just “Los Angeles”. Metrolink does connect even more people from down town anyway albeit not at high speed. Eventually BW will connect Palmdale from the Victor Valley station once the CA HSR comes on line. The high desert area around the Victor Valley is ever so growing with population due to cheaper housing that this will help alleviate congestion going down the Cajon Pass for commuters. It also looks like they will be constructing the tunnel with an electric shuttle from Rancho Cucamonga to the Ontario California airport. So in summary, the Rancho Cucamonga start/endpoint is actually a very good strategic area. And perhaps down the line if they electrify the Metrolink line to union station in LA then you will have something really cooking.
6:42 "I can't complain to my local politicians if Brightline would charge more for their tickets". You can still complain to your local politicians that they should build more transits. You can just disregard the existence of Brightline if they charge a high price for their tickets. You can just consider Brightline a premium service rather than a bottom line service.
I agree that you can still make demands on govt to regulate privateers.
@@ianweniger6620 This too. Thanks.
Well not necessarily, Brightline takes some of the market from a more conventional servixe
@@RMTransit Brightline does not service the lower end customers that wants cheaper ticket price.
The Reason why its stopping in Rancho is because they'll connect to the High desert Corridor in the future that will take them into LA Union, The High desert Corridor is being build as apart of CHSR
I came here to say the same thing. High Desert Corridor + CaHSR will allow Brightline to run their trains all the way to Union Station at high speeds. Someday.
That's the cover story. The reason is that it'll take billions to connect to LA. They've been struggling to raise funds, with some bond offerings canceled because of a lack of interest.
I REALLY hope they will electrify Brightline West right from the start.
I mean, they said they could operate onto CHSR in the future, so that would mean 25kV overhead power.
In the first renders there were overhead wires, but in newer renders there are no wires...
I think that’s just poor rendering. Brightline West has specifically stated on their website that the trains will be “fully electric”
@@A350flyernyc And electric trains are practically a requirement for high speed trains (unless you count 200 km/h to be this but international standards only count upgraded tracks if this). Sure, SNCF did start with a gas turbines for the TGV prototype (as many other experimental high-speed trains did) but the oil crisis proved overhead wires are cheaper long-term.
Everything they've published says electric - and it's the only way they'll achieve those kinds of speeds and travel up the 4% grades they need to. They're building everything to the same specs as CAHSR for interoperability.
That’s always been the plan afaik
brightline west will have electrified trains on 25KV AC 50 herz catenary with ETCS and ERTMS signalling and safety systems
I stumbled into a Brightline last year while looking for ways to get to Miami from Pompano beach. I was so baffled that something like this existed in the US. It was nice not having to take a bus or expensive Uber ride. I just got back from Spain and Brightline was pretty comparable in terms of service to the private company Iryo (minus the way higher speeds in Spain).
Brightline West should connect up with the multi-tracked freight corridor and build two separate stations for Las Vegas' centers.
The first station would be located by the casinos on the Strip, and the other would be in the downtown (by the city hall). Both of these sites are in busy, dense, (mostly) walkable areas, and would make far more sense than a single car dependent station on the outskirts of the city.
if you aquire the land, then brightline will build
Also worth noting that in the long term, I've heard some discussion of building a connection between BLW and Palmdale, so that when CALHSR opens, there can be direct HSR service from LA to LV
Great video, here’s an idea from Brightline West. If Metrolink mod goes ahead during the construction than Brightline’s could even save money, while connecting another part of the city, and even further into Los Angeles. Trust me as a conductor who works out of LA. It’s more central to work with union station than it is to try to partner with a Metrolink or even wait for the Metro gold line; although that extension is only a year out
As a rail employee, do you see Metrolink electrifying in the LA metro area anytime soon? Why or why not? Thanks.
@@geraldjohnson7937 i think they share too many lines with freight
@@geraldjohnson7937 The San Bernardino line might get electrified first, as it is mostly owned by Metrolink and has minimal freight. There is the single track problem though.
As for the LOSSAN corridor (Ventura and Orange County Lines plus parts of three others plus Amtrak Pacific Surfliner plus San Diego's COASTER), there seems to be little movement to electrify this extremely busy corridor. Part of the problem seems to be that the parts near the ocean are extremely unstable due to rockslides and the like; parts in Orange County have been shut down twice this year already. The high speed rail route is planned to take an interior route probably due to this.
@@Geotpf SD is going to be experiencing complete loss of service during the construction of the new right of way, expect commuter flight traffic to increase at LAX, Burbank etc.
@@geraldjohnson7937 Metrolink may electrify in the coming years, won’t be anytime soon but with the 2050 zero emissions deadline, we may see more electrification projects in the near future
I think a lot of people in Europe, particularly the UK over here miss the point about this, I often hear "wow, 125mph we've had that since the 70s" but the infrastructure and preexisting demand for fast trains in America just isn't there in the same way. I feel like as it is Brightline is already quite impressive, 110mph running with upgrades to 125 isn't anything to sneeze at
The privately owned freight railroads (BNSF, UP, CSX, NS) own all the rails here in the US. Unless our elected Congress can pass legislation to create new dedicated passenger rail lines, we ain't going nowhere.
The Northeast Corridor has a top speed of 150 mi/h in a few sections and most of it has top speed of 110-125 mi/h, and it's not new and for years now it very popular. In any case, you cannot have demand for something that does not exist, as the famous line from Field of Dreams says "Build it and they will come” (originally "he will come" but it's the same idea).
There’s demand but nothing to fill it!
And there's nothing to fill it, because there's only so much available land for ROW.
A private actor would go bankrupt in the face of unrelenting lawfare. The shysters would frame it as something like, Don't let those evil corporate fat cats bulldoze our back yards, and the juries would just eat it right up. They'd be in Chapter 11 before they laid a single sleeper.
And while government could certainly take care of arranging ROW, there would no doubt be some graft in the decision making process.
On top of which, fairly or not, there's a lot of skepticism about eminent domain in the wake of Kelo v. New London.
It would take government sized money to get enough ROW for a substantive rail network, but government doesn't know how to properly run a railroad long term (see, e.g., the DC Metro).
And public construction for private operation, is another sore spot of late, as any sports fan could tell you.
I sincerely hope Brightline can make a good show of it, but I'm not optimistic about its long-term viability.
Meanwhile Canada, Australia, Latin America and New Zealand don’t have any trains that go faster than a 100 mph at all. Yet nobody complains about that. Foreigners have such double standards it’s obvious they just love to hate the U.S no matter what. Leftist in Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand are the most smug and annoying people in the world.
I’ve always thought Metrolink could take a page out of Melbourne’s book in terms of grade separation/electrification for regional rail, especially given the climate and urban sprawl similarities between the two cities
was confused for a minute because Metrolink is what our trams here in Manchester UK are called but then i realised its the american one
FYI, although not spanning a gap as large, San Francisco MUNI LRV2 vehicles (from Italian manufacturer Breda) employed gap fillers, and were first put into service in the 1990's.
Ah yes very good point
There's a fully grade separated multi track freight line going straight through the centre of Vegas, with loads of unused space along side it where multiple stations could be built. I can only guess private interests are what's stopping brightline from using this.
Hi Reece, thank you, your videos are excellent, enjoyable and well narrated. I reside in Gainesville Florida and will be soon trying out the Brightline rail service. Excuse me if my next comment may seem too particular, here’s the comment: the number 100 is pronounced “one hundred” etc., and so few vlogers, journalists, newscasters will say this properly, instead “uh-hundred” which for me so distracts from what otherwise are many superb reports and narrations.
Good clip. Nice video. Hope passenger rail companies here in North America are listening to you!!!
Awesome video Reece! I feel like this is somewhat the same feeling people had back in the 18somethings when rail was a BRAND NEW idea. I know tourism and work were MUCH MUCH different back then. But I think I can see some of the similarities with the NIMBYS and the people who would absolutely love it to come to their town. I think the urban planners and the Architects/Engineers out in LA are gonna have a huge task on their hands if they want to ever continue service closer to the city of LA in the future. But I don’t see why it’s not possible, or needed.
Please do an explainer on the system in La Paz, Bolivia 🇧🇴! It's such an intresting system and I would love for more people to known about the system of my home
I've heard about the Texas Central like ages ago. Is that going to happen? It will be nice to see Japanese high speed rail to operate in the US
Texas Central looks all but dead at this point. Such a shame that the NIMBYs have succeeded in delaying the groundbreaking of that project in the courts for nearly a decade
@@eriklakeland3857 I thought Texas Central is still going on? But yeah, TCR is a proof that private doesn't always mean faster (nor asking China for help, etc.).
Idk what happened? Last I heard the Texas courts ok’d the land for development of the rail. After that happened, TC disappeared. There was a video I saw that said even the TC call center is no longer in service and the office is empty.
Before the pandemic I really thought Texas Central was gonna happen just like Brightline West is now. The two projects then were at similar stages of planning and the former from what I know was really far along in terms of development, even having somewhat bipartisan support from the state. When the infrastructure bill was passed, Texas Central still seemed like it was just about to begin construction even if they were likely awaiting money from it (although to be fair so is Brightline West to some extent). I really hope they're able to pick up the pieces because in my opinion, the project is way too far along the line to quit now.
Predatory opposition is not a good excuse to say it can't be done. Maybe when Brightline West begins construction, faith in a Dallas-Houston bullet train will be reinvigorated. If not, there has to be some sort of advocacy group formed that can fight off the vultures because it would be a SHAME if Texas Central fails and a future incarnation (and yes THERE WILL BE ANOTHER EFFORT IF IT DOES FAIL just like after the proposal in the 90's) has to start from square one again.
@@MarioFanGamer659 even if you ask help for china but still there is nimbys the bureacracy the project still no going or slower..
Three hours reliably, in comfort from dtla to Vegas at a reasonable price is going to get a TON of people out of their cars and on the train. The traffic from Vegas back to LA at the end of a weekend takes a four hour drive and makes it into a 6 to 7+ hour drive.
And, for those accustomed to flying, avoiding traffic to LAX, early arrival times, TSA lines … a 3 hour train ride in will be pretty comparable to the total travel time needed for a flight. And, I suspect much more relaxing!
This looks so nice. I can't wait to take the Brightline to Universal (it's a future expansion). I live walking distance to a metro stop only 2 stops away from a major airport. It'll be so easy to get there.
I moved to the Space Coast in 2020. The drivers in Florida are terrifying. People do dangerous stuff all the time and have no respect for trains.
last thing i expected in my time watching this channel is the mention of my home city rancho cucamonga. i take the SB commuter metrolink into union station every day now for work, and im so glad to have future prospects of transit, we've been needing it for so long.
Seeing these in florida was pretty cool. Now they should speed up the process for las vegas that has been planned. They literally have a lot for the brightline speed rail station empty
California high speed rail is doing it right by not having grade crossings. Brightline has had a list of accidents on the Miami route since it started. And I can't blame Florida if the super fast passenger train is running on slow freight tracks.
CAHSR will have a few at grade crossings, however they will use much better quad gates and sensors and stuff instead of the the lousy half street gates in Florida. The standards for 110MPH crossings are much higher as required by the FRA
@@rokksula4082 Also, the grade crossings are located in the slower parts of CAHSR while the new tracks will be grade separated from the start (as per federal mandate).
Thank you. :-)
About parking near railway stations: here in the Netherlands (as large as a single East Coast state), I know at least two stations that are targeted at car drivers: to have them leave their cars outside the cities in the West. Existing stop Veenendaal-De Klomp has been upgraded to an express train stop ("Intercity", on a Dutch scale) near the A12 motorway, new stop Hoevelaken has been created for the purpose (to my knowledge) near the A1 motorway. Local trains only, but just one stop away from major hub Amersfoort.
Similarly, cities like Amsterdam (where I live) have been creating Park + Ride stops near the A10 ring motorway to keep motorists outside the wider city center and have them on public transport. Moreover, parking fees downtown almost force you to take that hint.
Parkings for bicycles near Dutch stations have received global interest: many thousands of bicycles. But that is beside your point. However, most Dutch railway stations feature rental points for bicycles ("OV-Fiets", a subsidiary of the main railway company). Returning customers can help themselves in a few minutes.
Really love this video Reece! I'm pretty excited about this project. A rising tide lifts all boats. Even if the company has financial problems later, those workers will be experienced and capable of hopping onto other projects. And there could be a scenario where Amtrak takes over Brightline lines after goes bankrupt. Not ideal, but still an overall improvement in the system compared to what we have today.
I love your content, keep up the great work!!! 🚂🚃🚃🏝
It just blow my mind that my country Indonesia will open a 350kph High Speed Line in a few mouth left, while the US maybe still need a decade to complete CHSR or Brightline west.
Congratulations! Although, given the population density of Java it is surprising that a high speed rail line wasn’t completed earlier.
California definitely has much to learn from Europe and Asia.
I suspect that the Rancho Cucamonga Station is only a temporary solution for Brightline's Greater Los Angeles terminal station, selected due to its proximity to the I-15 corridor that Brightline is using for much its ROW between the two urban areas. And that the ultimate objective is for Brightline West to connect into the CA HSR's 25kV Electrified network at Palmdale and continue into DTLA Union Station
Hopefully. I feel that upgrading and using the existing line into LA would be a great option, and also allow connectivity with CA HSR
It ain't temporary. They don't have the resources to do serve LA. This doesn't bode well for the project.
FWIW, Rancho Cucamonga is few miles away from Ontario International Airport, which is the largest freight distribution center in the United States. With UPS, Fedex, and Amazon Prime Air flying make it as its western US home base.
There have been numerous collisions between automobiles and Brightline trains in south Florida in the last few years. Some upgraded safety precautions at the crossing level would be helpful since it seems unlikely that humans will be getting smarter anytime soon, especially in Florida.
As someone living in South Florida and has seen and used the Brightline many times from conception to service... I agree with much you said, but a few things.
As you said, the integration with local public transit is not great. Even in Miami, they promote their own "shuttle" service, instead of the 3-4 minute walk to the metrorail to get to the airport. They don't even mention it, you would have just know to do it. Even at other Brightline stations, they could integrate much better with existing bus service. Granted the buses suck, but still...
Also, the pricing... Isn't great. I used Brightline with my wife to see a Broadway show in Miami once and took it from the new Boca station, and the prices were a little high, but reasonable. A few weeks later, we wanted to go to museum, and the prices were almost 3 times higher! There was a festival going on in Miami, but still, we ended up driving because we couldn't swallow 50-70 one way trips.
The prices to go to Orlando are insane. 80-200 one way? To get dropped off at the airport? No way. Right now, that's mostly for tourists or specific situations.
Actually, if you’re taking smart class for Lando instead of premium, it cost a lot less than $80 but it also depends when you book it what day, etc.
Oh, I think it’s always a good idea when you’re going to a new city to watch some of the youtubes about the city on public transportation because that’s how I found out I could get a almost free public transport from Miami airport to where I wanted to go, but if I didn’t look it up, I would’ve thought I would have to take a taxi because I didn’t want to rent a car when I’m spending most of the time swimming at the beach or bicycling
Good comments!
I love your contents. ❤
I hope they make it. I love what Brightline is doing, and it's such a refreshing vision of what passenger rail could be when a RR that owns the RoW takes passenger seriously. As for LA/LV, I think getting into DTLA would cost as much as the rest of the project lol, as long as they get into the LA Basin (Like Rancho) they will be very competitive. Honestly even just connecting Hesperia-LV will get them going. I-15 is quite often a 200 mile parking lot. I hope they make it.
Brightline trains in Florida are kinda funny considering they use trains from Viaggio Comfort family. Like ÖBB Railjets with 7 cars and currently builded Comfortjets for ČD with even 9 cars. (and 5 cars unit Interjet with no driving car and build "only" up to 200 kph was operated with old Škoda locos)
As a real estate company, I wonder if they will develop any larger scale communities between Miami and Orlando where land is cheap, but with HSR connection, people could commute regularly. Great opportunity to build some walkable towns reminiscent of the colonial railway suburbs.
Also, I understand why they would build parking lots in LA and Vegas for now. Presumably, they will redevelop as local transit catches up. But with no local transit at either station, it would be difficult to cash in a walkable development.
The surface parking lots aren’t that egregious all things considered. They’re land banking
If I'm not mistaken, Brightline could become something like the GO Train in the GTA? They already have a commuter pass. I could see this becoming an excellent means of transportation for those living outside Orlando/Miami but working in it. It would end up being Cheaper than driving a car. All they need is higher frequency (and better public transit in those areas to service the stations).
Where is my LA to Palm Springs high speed line? Then next stop Las Vegas. Can u imagine how popular that would be?!! But alas, nope we can’t have nice things.
Idk much about it but there’s also one proposed for Minneapolis to Duluth, MN. It’s not brightline though, but a different company.
It always has amazed me that there isn't existing rail service to LV. It just seems like it makes logical sense. Course, rail connecting the casinos on the strip also makes sense, but they aren't doing that either.
Sadly there used to be. The Zephyr (Chicago-San Francisco) used to split in three in Salt Lake - one part to Seattle, one to SF, the other (the Desert Wind) heading down via Vegas to LA. Amtrak cut that in '97. Amtrak's founding rules state that any journey less than 700 miles (like LA-Vegas) must be supported by state dollars, whereas anything over 700 is federal. LA-SLC is approx 705. So the $ going to Brightline could've gone towards reopening the Zephyr, and providing regular scheduled service on pre-existing rails.
@@colchestercreek That's messed up. You'd think it would have been easy money for Amtrak, given all the traffic on that route.
Given the collision count in Florida, I wonder whether new high speed rail lines should be mandated to be totally grade separated? I really don’t feel level crossings should exist in high speed rail lines.
I think Reece pulled his punches here.
There is a reason why grade separation is a de facto standard for HSR (de jure i.e. standards like UIC and EU only specify supported speeds). A side effect for not doing that, the initial opening segment of Brightline was limited to 79 mph for this very reason (the new tracks to Orlando are grade separated, at least).
It should be noted that the FRA prohibits any grade crossings whatsoever on class 8 and 9 tracks (i.e. 160 and 220 mph i.e. high-speed tracks) whereas class 7 tracks (125 mph or which is Brightline's top speed) require sufficient barriers.
High speed rail lines are already mandated to be fully grade separation, the Brightline Florida service is not high speed. By law grade separation is mandatory from speeds of 125 mi/h (which is not true high speed rail), the current active section in Florida has a 79 mi/h limit, the new section between Palm Beach and Cocoa has a top speed of 110 mi/h (which only obligated them to upgrade the existing rail crossings), only the last 52 mi section from Cocoa to Orlando Airport (which is, for now, single track) has a top speed of 125 mi/h and it is fully grade separated.
In Italy the rail safety authority mandates that a portion of track with any level crossings can't have a speed limit higher than 120 km/h. That makes removing all level crossings an unavoidable step to raise speed limits: there are almost no level crossings left on main lines, and they're gradually removing them from many secondary lines as well.
Also many level crossings here are lower their bars several minutes before a train approaches, so they're really annoying. That's because they go down as soon as the signal giving access to that portion of the line goes green, even if it's located several kilometers away.
Im Germany you can't build any new level crossings on mainline rail, and old ones have to be closed when major works are being done. This is the right step for many currently operating lines in my opinion, but it also means that reopening some lines would mean tremendous costs just to remove the rail crossings, making this type of projects much harder to do. Only banning it above a top speed of 100km/h sounds like the right thing for me
I love your grungy style.
Casinos will be happy to offer transportation from the Brightline station.
Is Brightline considering extending along the San Bernadino line as you suggested? It seems like a logical step after the initial project.
Somebody needs to do a video comparing California hsr legal and regulatory experience to Brightline. I'd be curious to know what changed? Seems like California hsr changed alot regulations that made brightline possible
@@Alejandro-vn2si For sure: Both of them will fall back on each other on lawsuit matters.
I have lived both in South Florida (before Brightline service) and in the Netherlands. A one-way train trip on a Thursday around 10:30 am from The Hague to Amsterdam Schippol on NS, about 50 km or 31 miles, costs about 10,80 euros or currently $11.60 and takes around 30 minutes. A one-way train trip same day and time locally from Fort Lauderdale to Miami on Brightline, about 29 miles, costs about $17 and takes around 38 minutes. The big difference is that there are about 6 trains per hour on The Hague to AMS route, and 1 train per hour on the Fort Lauderale to Miami route.
Great video, just wanted to let you know the Orlando extension already opened weeks ago, however, but besides that great!
Cool video Reece! Brightline is an amazing company, and your videos are right on track!
Thanks for watching!
@@RMTransit And do you like the pun?
We really could use good rail for West Michigan ! There are so many of us here who are seniors (over 65) and have no car - and are stuck in our home except for the buses around town. What I would do for trains North Muskegon and further North to Traverse City!
Never happen. Too small population to support.
Great video, a Bright line extenstion for that LA-LV track to SLC would be awesome, we drive that route very often, so having it faster and/or more convenient (and eco friendly) would be great.
Good video subscribed from UK
The reason Brightlight can do what Amtrak and other "public rail transit" can't is that Brightline can raise funds from other sources beyond finicky government agencies and politicians. Unfortuantly, Amtrak has its hands tied because it cannot accept private investments from individuals or groups that want to see high and higher speed rail prosper. Nor can Amtrak quickly adapt to the changes in demand. Even improvements to the Acela's route has always came with polical strings attached that undermine its attempt to be a HSR.
I think there is more that separates a large state owned enterprise from the private sector than simply financing options. For example VIA in Canada attempted to raise private funding to do it's HFR project, but because the project didn't look like it was profitable to the private sector, they gave up on that and went to the government for financing.
Brightline doesn't have to worry about safety either. They have a terrible record in that department.
@@az................. So you are blaiming Brightline for people ignoring warning signals and driving around closed gates at crossings?
@@TheFarix2723 I'm blaming brightline for being tightwads and not spending the money to put in proper full gates and to fence the right of way.
@@TheFarix2723 I'm blaming Brightline for being too cheap to put up fences and proper protection in the first place. Brightline has the *highest rate* of fatalities of any American rail operator. Clearly they're doing something different.
Wrong about Amtrak. There is no mandate to improve mobility or to get people out of cars to improve the environment. Amtrak receives a lot of hectoring about making a profit in the NE Corridor.
Hate to break it to you but even here in Europe it's completely normal to drive your car to a train station. Especially big commuter stations have big parking garages to accommodate all the car traffic from people driving there.
The “LoLa” line!
Brightline West will only be single tracked.
Just as Texas declares HSR victory, Brightline comes to California's rescue.
Morocco also has a 300 Kph line now !!! And Acela Express in the Boston/Washington corridor has ordered Alstom trainset that can go up to 225 Mph (360 Kph) on some segments that will (keyword here 🤣) be constructed ! The "when" is another story !!
I'm
I stayed in West Palm but needed to fly out of FLL so I took the Brightline from West Palm down to Fort Lauderdale. There was a airport shuttle waiting to go right as I got off the train.
I just moved to Canada and in my opinion Via Rail are ridiculously expensive for the service they offer since cheap budget flights are so much cheaper for example Halifax to Toronto Via Rail is $260 meanwhile I can get a cheap flight ticket for $60 after tax.
I think a possible solution for the coronavirus issue which saw Brightline close for a certain period of time could be subsidizing the service when there aren’t enough pax to break even. I think the reason this didn’t happen during COVID was that this is the Florida government we’re talking about and Brightline was simply too novel to be established as an essential service. However, as these systems expand and more people move over to rail transport, private or public, this will only increase the legitimacy of these rail companies as public transit, and more governments might be interested in providing support. Let’s not forget that this is exactly how the railroads ran during the “golden age” of U.S. rail transport. Privately run, yet government subsidies meant they had an obligation to their passengers.
Yes, definitely looking forward. Is forward to the train. !!! Coming to Orlando airport.
On the toll highways, they can only build so many extra lanes then it gets crowded. Again. Look at Houston Texas they built six lanes I believe in each direction and it’s still crowded. That’s part of the reason why you need the train
another reason it’s not everybody can take the stress driving the toll road and some people shouldn’t be driving, such as those who take medicine with medical problems or just had a bad experience driving on the highway and can’t anymore such as a friend of mine who was in the fire when someone hit her car
Prof Vuchic is now about 90 years old and has been participating in HSR studies since the 70s. I urge you to consider interviewing him. While you are at it, he could give a good discussion of the utter lack of transit expansion in the Philadelphia region for decades.
The Las Vegas strip is screaming for a metro line. That would be such a slam dunk.
Probably long time till they get one they approved Elon Musk loop tunnels and expanding that network so
Why not have "kiddie"-trains used to serve suburbs? They can run through parks, are fun and could be low-cost as everything is smaller, uses less space and materials and energy. Running 10-20 MPH to connect neighbourhoods to mass-transit, it could easily be a solution to fill in transit/commuting gaps, especially as a free service.
There's a plan to run some sort of commuter rail service to around Fort Lauderdale on the FEC.
I don’t get all the negativity for Brightline Florida that I keep seeing everywhere. Everyone who’s actually rode it says it’s the best train in the US, and the service they provide has no equal in the western hemisphere.
About it being not electrified, that’s ok. Diesel is unfortunately what we do in America, simply because electrification costs an astronomical amount of money, and the United States is a big place. I say use diesel for now, get the revenue coming in, and then invest in electrification when they get enough money to justify doing it.
About it only being 125mph maximum, that’s fine too. We live in an era where we are more connected than ever, and we don’t need something like Concorde was where we need to get places as fast as humanly possible. And frankly, Florida has some neat wildlife (I say this as someone who lives in Upstate New York) that might be fun to look at while you’re travelling.
About all the grade crossings, I hope you realize that that’s the original Florida East Coast mainline that’s been there for years and years. All of south Florida has been developed in and around that line. Palm beach exists because Henry Flagler built that line. Of course there’s gonna be grade crossings, because these speeds are ones not seen before on that historic line. And frankly, they just don’t have the room around the line to put overpasses and underpasses on it. It’s just the nature of the line and the development around it.
Overall I’m a huge fan of Brightline and what they’re doing for the private sector of passenger rail in the US. They’re showing that high quality passenger rail service still has a place in the car and plane centric United States.
Honestly, that grade separation argument reads to me like an excuse than an actual reasoning given that many cities have actively removed grade crossings in their municipality or at least are doing this. In particular, they did this by closing some less important roads and putting bypasses in other places or moving the whole line underground (that one is out of question, though, given the danger of floods here) or - more preferably and likely - elevated.
Don't disagree with your other arguments, really (outside of maybe speed but that's an issue of advertisement).
@@MarioFanGamer659 75% of that line is that old mainline, and it also has to do with Florida themselves. Florida loves their cars, so it’s a miracle that Brightline exists at all. Also zoning is a problem (zoning, especially in conservative states like Florida is incredibly backwards and outdated). Getting all those bypasses put in all up the coast would be a monumental effort, and Brightline doesn’t have the authorization, and probably never will, nor the money to do it. Elevating that entire line is completely out of the question. You have to remember that freight trains still use that line as well, so there’s multiple turnouts and switches to industries all up and down the line. They’re making all the track improvements they can, but there’s only so much that the FEC can do without completely alienating their freight customers.
I think people are just frustrated that they didn't build the right infrastructure from the get-go and are instead building incrementally as they prove the business case. I wish Brightline West had more tunneling through the hilly sections in the desert so they could blast right through... but I'll still take a 2hr train ride over none at all.
125mph diesel is already such a huge improvement and much cheaper to implement. If they get expertise in electrification from CA-NV then they can apply that right back to the Florida line and make incremental speed improvements there too.
Let's add that some would say that Brightline is one of the best in the world. May I remind people that Switzerland trains are slow, but are regarded as world class. Brightline is super clean, comfortable, and on time.
Once you get a taste of high quality city to city rail service, you just can't go back.
It might eventually be in their plans, but a high-speed rail connection to southwestern Utah would also be a huge boost considering the tourism in the area and the "planned" BRT between St. George and Zion NP.