Brightline (All Aboard Florida) Orlando - Miami FL FEC fka Virgin Rail

[CentralValleyRail]

Fares are $3 and $5 for Coach and Business opening weekend, I happen to be in Miami next weekend and will be riding!

[Jeff Smith]

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/opinion/ed ... 594224002/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Really? Hey, let us sue you, but we still want free money! Brief, fair-use of what the little girls have to say:

...
To paraphrase Brightline, "No crossing-maintenance money for you, Treasure Coast!"

Oh, the pettiness.

Frankly, we expected better from a rail company planning to run 32 daily passenger trains through our region.

Given the fact Brightline has no plans to stop its trains anywhere on the Treasure Coast — hence, we will get all of the attendant problems but none of the benefits — you'd think Brightline would, at the very least, treat us the same way it treats other counties along the rail line.
...
Brightline is drawing a distinction between counties that have sued it and those that have not. In a letter to U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, chair of the House Subcommittee on Government Operations, an attorney for Brightline, stated: "As an accommodation, with respect to certain counties that have not opposed the Brightline project, Brightline has agreed to absorb the crossing maintenance cost for a specified number of years. We have not agreed to such accommodation with respect to counties who continue to sue us ..."
...

[Noel Weaver]

Sorry but I do not agree here, theze folks have thrown every possible roadblock that they could and this has certainly cost time and a lot of money. Remember folks you get more with sugar than vinegar. What goes around comes around. Maybe eventually they will make peace in Martin County and the sooner they do, the better.
Noel Weaver

[Gilbert B Norman]

Consider the source of this report:

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local ... 566497002/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fair Use:

..The clock is ticking for Brightline to sell $1.15 billion of tax-exempt bonds for Phase 2 of its passenger railroad, but there's no evidence of a sale in sight.

Brightline has until May 31 to sell the private-activity bonds, according to a deadline set by the U.S. Department of Transportation when it approved the bonds Dec..

I'd like to see some reporting from Jennifer Sorentrue with Cox's Palm Beach Post on this development. Floating an issue of "junk" bonds to build out to Orlando will, as I noted earlier, will make such a mite bit more costly that I suspect they anticipated.

But don't listen to me; my track record regarding Brightline has become a bit "blemishe".

[Bonevalleyrailfan]

Mr. Norman,
I have come to the conclusion that AAF will initially finance phase 2 to Orlando "in house" with debt and/or equity. That was pretty much what Bob Johnston reported in his Trains magazine article in the recent June issue. With Softbank now owning AAF, I am sure there are some options now available to finance it that were not around a year or so ago. This is what I think most opponents don't understand. They are focused on the PABs while AAF is laughing all the way to their own bank! Why else would Brightline be so consistent in announcing construction on phase 2 starting in 2018 (and service to Orlando in early 2021?) They have even opened an engineering office in the Orlando station and have been hiring professionals to manage the project. If you do not have financing lined up, you do not make that comittment to hire the resources and line up all of the land like they have been doing. Even as late as March, AAF was signing agreements to allow land swaps between GOAA and the CFX to make way for their tracks near the airport.

The people of the Treasure Coast don't realize it yet, but they have been had by their own politicians and a few sleazy, high priced lawyers willing to say they can stop AAF ... by the way, it has been reported that the Treasure Coast has already spent as much on legal fees fighting AAF as it would cost them for many years of maintenance of public grade crossings.

[jtbell]

Yay! They actually announced the opening far enough in advance for me to plan a trip down. Now I have to check with my "social secretary" to make sure "we" have nothing else planned for the next couple of weeks, so I can take another leisurely drive down from SC.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Mr. Bone Valley, I have read the excellent Bob Johnston article in June TRAINS, and while I really would not expect further coverage regarding their funding sources (likely quite confidential), if they do seek Private Activity Bonds, especially $2B of them, that of course is public record.

I wish the Post business reporter, Jennifer Sorentrue, could dig around for a story on the $$$. I think a lot.of her work, and we have exchanged emails regarding AAF.

So far as "that other source", anybody around here think I get my news from Rush?

[Gilbert B Norman]

LOOK, LOOK, LOOK!!!

https://www.today.com/video/are-private ... 1796291642" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bostontrainguy]

LOOK, LOOK, LOOK!!!

https://www.today.com/video/are-private ... 1796291642" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What a concept! Mostly positive coverage too.

Actually this is going to rock-n-roll once it gets to Orlando airport.

News Story: About 72 million people visited Orlando in 2017 — a record . . . making Orlando the first U.S. city to surpass the 70 million threshhold for tourists, according to Visit Orlando.

In comparision, about 62.8 million people visited New York City in 2017 . . . while Las Vegas attracted about 42.2 million tourists.

[Ridgefielder]

With Softbank now owning AAF, I am sure there are some options now available to finance it that were not around a year or so ago.

This is an excellent point. Although technically Softbank owns Fortress, which in turn owns AAF, they still have the deepest of deep pockets. They've just raised $100 billion for their latest venture investment fund.

[jtbell]

Yay! They actually announced the opening far enough in advance for me to plan a trip down. Now I have to check with my "social secretary" to make sure "we" have nothing else planned for the next couple of weeks, so I can take another leisurely drive down from SC.

I was all set to pull the trigger just now on a motel reservation in Fort Lauderdale this weekend. Then I looked at the weather forecasts on the Herald and Sun-Sentinel websites. Ugh. Rain, wind, thunderstorms, even possible flooding in some areas of South Florida. Not good for outdoor activities like railfanning.

I visited my parents down there in the summer for many years, so I'm familiar with the summer pattern of popup thunderstorms in the afternoons. I could put up with that. This looks a lot worse. I'll pass, reluctantly, and wait for a better opportunity.

At least I got a look at Brightline in January, the week after the initial segment opened.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Mr. Bell, I have to wonder why, save one family emergency during '98, I've never set foot in Florida earlier than Thanx, nor later than Easter.

[Jeff Smith]

Tickets are going fast: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/transp ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

People looking to sample Brightline’s higher-speed passenger trains at deep discount prices, this weekend, may be out of luck soon.

Tickets are going fast.

Brightline officials say the $3 and $5 fares offered only for this Saturday’s and Sunday’s rides are almost sold out for every train between West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

The discount tickets were priced to celebrate the May 19 start of regular passenger service to MiamiCentral station, located at 600 NW 1st Ave.

The discount prices are good system-wide, but the seating is assigned. If you miss your train, your ticket won’t be good on the next train.
...

[Gilbert B Norman]

I've learned of this material from Mr. Bone Valley (and apologies for any possible "pre-emption") which appears to be a screenshot of a PowerPoint presentation:

Status
 Financing 40% equity/60% debt
• Expected close August-Sept 2018
• Allows notice to proceed (NTP) late summer/fall 2018
• Completion about same time as South Terminal

Whether private equity placement or IPO, who will subscribe to that? Last time a passenger rail company had an IPO was Auto-Train Corp. - and we all know how that turned out.

I've given up predicting anything regarding Brightline. All I can hope is that a very intrepid Business reporter, Jennifer Sorentrue, with Cox's Palm Beach Post, can dig for a story of how they expect to line up equity financing for what to me is a long shot for financial success.

[Jeff Smith]

For Brightline Expansion beyond Miami-Orlando: http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=137&t=163138" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;