The First Private High Speed Rail Line in 100 Years Will Link Miami and Orlando
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Re: The First Private High Speed Rail Line in 100 Years Will Link Miami and Orlando
#2Sounds great, I’m jealous. From what I understand, the privately funded project to build high-speed rail in Texas recently melted down and the prospects look increasingly pessimistic (despite some key court wins that would have let them exercise eminent domain.)
Texas ought to be another ideal physical environment for HSR, but Southwest killed a project in the ‘90s (back when the intra-Texas market was still their bread and butter) and none of the other projects have gotten sufficient traction since then.
Re: The First Private High Speed Rail Line in 100 Years Will Link Miami and Orlando
#3The article claims are that Brightline will send 32 trains daily, supposedly taking ~30 minutes less than the drive at up to 125 miles per hour, but only during part of the trip. It will travel up to 79 mph in urban areas and 110 mph in less-populated regions. According to the article, single riders will pay $158 round-trip for business class and $298 for first class, but families and groups will be able to buy four round-trip tickets for $398.
I struggle to see how this will perform better than the hour-long flight currently ~$200 (which will very likely be lower when this rail line comes into service) for business users, although the $400 fee may be attractive to some families, and have it hit their supposed 8MM annual ridership numbers when compared to airline travel.
Their current service between Miami and West Palm Beach is at a low of ~$50 round trip which is a much more reasonable amount when compared to the competing transit services and of course it's going to drive nearly 1MM riders through the first half of the year. But, I think they'll struggle with the longer route with higher costs and more competition from airlines.
We shall see.
Re: The First Private High Speed Rail Line in 100 Years Will Link Miami and Orlando
#4And what does a family do after arriving in Orlando without a car?
Trains are cool but this doesn't seem viable, 32 departures daily, really?
Re: The First Private High Speed Rail Line in 100 Years Will Link Miami and Orlando
#5The article claims are that Brightline will send 32 trains daily, supposedly taking ~30 minutes less than the drive at up to 125 miles per hour, but only during part of the trip. It will travel up to 79 mph in urban areas and 110 mph in less-populated regions. According to the article, single riders will pay $158 round-trip for business class and $298 for first class, but families and groups will be able to buy four…
For one off trips the advantage is you don't need to deal with airport security or feeling cramped in a cheap airline seat.
They are also offering commuter and family passes that offer wifi access and bring the price down to $6 or $14 per ride (that might not be the Orlando price specifically). The family pass let's you share it with family members as well which is nice, living near Orlando we are a popular travel destination for family (Disney World + free tickets bc my wife works for Disney).
Re: The First Private High Speed Rail Line in 100 Years Will Link Miami and Orlando
#6Since when is 125mph high-speed rail?
Re: The First Private High Speed Rail Line in 100 Years Will Link Miami and Orlando
#7And what does a family do after arriving in Orlando without a car? Trains are cool but this doesn't seem viable, 32 departures daily, really?
They're going to build a station at Disney
Re: The First Private High Speed Rail Line in 100 Years Will Link Miami and Orlando
#8Since when is 125mph high-speed rail?
It's America, so lower your expectations :(
Although, the first Shinkansen model had a max speed of 130mph, so one could say 125mph is bullet train speed.
Now, that was in 1964, and the second model (1985) topped out at 137mph, and the current series (introduced decades ago) are around 180mph -- but again, expectations.
Re: The First Private High Speed Rail Line in 100 Years Will Link Miami and Orlando
#9This route has a higher chance of completion than the infamous SF-LA route.
Re: The First Private High Speed Rail Line in 100 Years Will Link Miami and Orlando
#10And what does a family do after arriving in Orlando without a car? Trains are cool but this doesn't seem viable, 32 departures daily, really?
I mean how many cars are used solely to drive from the airport and then sit in a hotel parking lot for the next week only to be driven back to the airport. 50% seems a conservative number considering that resorts like Disney world have their own transit systems.