Bloomberg via The Washington Post, 9/3/23
Florida’s New Train Has Lessons for California
Florida’s privately owned Brightline railroad, founded in 2017, is poised to start service between Miami and Orlando in a few weeks. In California, meanwhile, where voters approved funding for high-speed rail in 2008, the state recently announced that it will soon begin reviewing preliminary bids from manufacturers for what amounts to a train to nowhere — connecting the minor cities of Merced and Bakersfield, with no concrete plan to reach either Los Angeles or the Bay Area — that is scheduled to begin operations in 2030, or maybe 2033.
What gives? Is this yet another example of the private sector pwning the public sector? Not quite.
Part of the difference is project scope — Miami and Orlando are much closer than San Francisco and L.A. — and part of it is train speed. Brightline refers to itself as high-speed rail in marketing hype, but it wouldn’t come close to qualifying for that title by European or Asian standards. California, because it’s trying to connect more distant cities and compete with air travel, is aiming for a faster rail line that’s harder to build.
But the most important difference is that Brightline brings to the table a private-sector superpower: the ability, and willingness, to say no and just walk away.
