“It opens up the whole state.”
All on base , y’ all ! It’sTrains Weekat Thrillist . In festivity of our borderline obsession with power train — fast trains , wearisome trains , wine trains , even snow trains ( and , no , not theSnowpiercerkind)—we’re devote our site to all thing trains . Throughout the week , you ’ll discover level and guides that ’ll make you want to buy a ticket , quick change your status to “ choo - choo , ” and meet us in the bar car for a bucket list - desirable locomotive adventure .
To all of us in Miami , Orlandomay as well be Canada . It ’s not that the metropolis is cold and has a unknown obsession with Tim Horton’s — it ’s that the effort required to get there can feel more tedious than traveling to Toronto . Just over 235 miles freestanding Florida ’s two most democratic name and address , but the stretch of paved swamp that sits between them is a painful purgatory of traffic and thunderstorms . What should be a three - hour driving is stretch out to five if the wrong gadget driver are on the road ( which they always seem to be ) .
flight is n’t much better , as the volume of your passage clip is spend getting to the drome and waiting in security lines . And you have just enough time during the 35 - arcminute trajectory to open your laptop computer before the flight attendant tells you to put it away . No matter how you get there , sound to Orlando need a extended travel day . So whether you ’re traveling north for business or desire tovisit the Mouse , there ’s a serious roadblock .
Photo courtesy of Brightline
But Brightline — our sunny , citrusy , high - speed train that ’s making quick trips to West Palm and beyond a reality — is trying to alter all that . By the end of this summertime , the route will in the end get its crown leg with service between South Florida and Orlando . The three - ish hour trip will cost about the same as a flight ( $ 79 in Smart stratum ) , but will allow you to work , bout appearance on Netflix , or sip chardonnay as you coast up the peninsula . Brightline hop-skip this will end the gap between city and deepen the fashion our state — and the one thousand thousand who visit it — think about traveling in Florida , but can we all get on plug-in ?
High speeds and high-end amenities change perception
“ We have this percept that car equal freedom , ” Brightline President Patrick Goddard muses as he preside over the ribbon cutting at the sparkling new Orlando station . That ’s because getting into a car and hit the road is easy , and problems only rise up once you hit traffic or struggle to discover parking , he says .
“ The friction on a gear is at the front end . How do I get to the station ? Or how do I get from the post to my final name and address ? Once people start to get past that , they understand the intrinsical benefit of train travel versus driving . ”
apart from the whole few - car - on - the - road thing , the intrinsical benefit of train travel is it allow you to sit back and unbend en route to your finish . But since many Americans ’ only experiences with train travel are the oft - delay Amtrak and regional rail in the nor'-east , changing that perception is an uphill acclivity .
Photo courtesy of Brightline
On its charge to deepen the way of life we think about train locomotion , Brightline started with its stave . Goddard came with over a decade working in hospitality , and he say the company aims to come on its business more like a boutique hotel with a platform than a train station .
“ People inquire why a hotel guy rope is involved in a caravan , ” says Goddard . “ It ’s because we care about the experience , not just the commodity of deportation . We want multitude to take the air through those door , and be stress detached . ”
The rest of the luxury comes through comforts . The boarding lounges are silklike and advanced , with oversized , easygoing seats and index outlets and USB plugs at every turn . Premium waiting room offer free drinks , including a high - technical school Tended Bar system , where you could mix your own cocktail on a touchscreen and take your first sip in under a hour .
Photo courtesy of Brightline
Once you ’re on plug-in , the seats are larger than first socio-economic class plane stern , large leatherbound luxury chair with oversize tray table and more outlets . There ’s free WiFi too , and a handcart rolls through offering dusty drinks and easy snacks . Even when the railroad train has to slow down or hold on , you never mind the delay because the world Brightline ’s created is one you do n’t want to bequeath .
Connections turn Orlando into Florida’s front door
Even while opening routes through Aventura , Boca Raton , and West Palm Beach , Orlando has always been Brightline ’s endgame .
The high - speed rail estimates there are more than 35 million trips between South and Central Florida each year . If that ’s even close to precise and Brightline can capture even 10 % of those head trip , the train will be a roaring success . Though much of that success is dependent on father both visitant and Floridians to think of South and Central Florida as one destination , and Brightline as the figurative road through it .
“ We ’re sit down on 12,000 land here . To give you perspective , you could fit MIA , LAX , and JFK in this footprint , ” he boasts . “ So back in the ‘ 70s , the forefathers of this airport planned this as a multimodal hub for the State Department . [ Brightline ] is making that a reality , so whether your destination is Miami or the rest of South Florida , you ’re fundamentally say , ‘ Welcome to Florida , ’ right here . ”
" You ’re basically saying , ‘ Welcome to Florida , ’ right here . "
The comfort of connection does n’t just apply to visitors . With a unobjectionable , smooth three - time of day connection from downtown Miami to MCO and two hour from West Palm Beach , the train effectively could call on Orlando into a fourth South Florida aerodrome .
“ We have 34 airlines with 150 verbatim connections out of this airport , ” Thibault says . “ And we ’re not concord by a major aircraft carrier monopolize the whole affair . So if you ’re in Miami and you need to go see your Aunt Sue in Kalamazoo , but the only direct flight to Kalamazoo is from Orlando , you may take the train to Orlando and not have to connect . ”
The reverse , he acknowledged , is also lawful for people in Central Florida who require to take reward of MIA ’s nonstop flight to Latin America and the Caribbean . It also opens up the region for international visitors , many of whom are accustomed to taking trains from major airports to other big address .
“ In Europe and Asia , it ’s extremely natural to have this type of connection , ” he tell . “ Now you ’re providing them with an environment they ’re prosperous with , so it give up the whole state . ”
Getting the rest of the state on board
Brightline ’s convenience is n’t solely for visitor or straggle local — it can be a revolution in how Floridians go within their home state , too .
That revolution has already started in South Florida , where ridership has doubled since the train debut in 2018 , and people on a regular basis make leisure time trips between cities because labor is not necessitate . The hope is , that position extends to greater Orlando .
“ We ’ve seen such success in masses come up from Miami , ” says Lindsey Wiegmann , PR conductor at Discover The Palm Beaches . “ We carry the same coming out of Orlando . It allows us to capitalise on the international flights to Orlando , and maybe people want to spend some time in a report park , then pop down for a couple days at the beach . And we ’re only two hours aside . ”
Business between the regions may get easy too . Orlando Economic Partnership CEO Tim Giuliani says the convenient train connection opens his region up to the financial markets in South Florida .
“ Miami ’s a financial inwardness , and so it will link the vast workforce we have here to that financial center in Miami , ” he state . “ It then admit those Miami startups , those finance companies , VCs , to get good access into Orlando . So I think it ’s a win - win for South Florida and for Orlando . ”
Of naturally , Brightline is in camera owned , and starting a similar service in other region would ask someone with abstruse sac willing to make a multi - billion buck investment . Therefore whether Brightline is capable to inspire transit in America remains to be see . For now , the caravan is satisfied in making Orlando feel closer than it ever has — or , at least , a little closer than Canada .
