9 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

USA Today, 11/9/15:

 

 

New Florida train service to whisk passengers between Miami and Orlando

 

 

Today, All Aboard Florida is slated to reveal that the new express inter-city train travel service, which will cost more than $3 billion to build, will be called the Brightline.

Story

 

Brightline?  I wonder if this is related to, or if AAF is getting financing from the Florida cable TV/internet provider Brighthouse??

 

What was wrong with the name All Aboard Florida ???

[steve4031]

Brightline is a cheesy name IMHO.  I preferred All Aboard Florida.  It wouldnt have been the worst  thing to have a reference to historical names such as Flagler. 

[lunarwhite]

Brightline has a website including a video.

http://gobrightline.com/train

[JEANYLASER]

I'm bit confused about the name I love all aboard Florida not Brightline!

Edited by JEANYLASER, 09 November 2015 - 04:10 PM.

[pennyk]

According to an Orlando local tv news story, the name "Brightline" refers to the bright colors of the train cars.

[KevinKorell]

A little more about the colors of the cars in today's item from Progressive Railroading, 11/10/15:

 

All Aboard Florida unveils 'Brightline' brand for Orlando-Miami rail service

 

The trains, which are being build by Siemens in California, will come in a spectrum of five distinct colors: BrightRed, BrightOrange, BrightGreen, BrightBlue and BrightPink, led by BrightYellow locomotives.

And if you leave them sitting in Miami too long, they will become canvases for BrightBlack graffiti.

 

Story

[KevinKorell]

And a Miami flavor to the story. Apparently they already have HO scale models of the Brightline trains.  This story also substitutes purple cars for the pink cars mentioned above.  I would guess they will be magenta, which is a cross between the two!!  From WSVN-TV, Channel 7 in Miami, FL, 11/9/15:

 

 

Officials unveil All Aboard Florida train service images

 

 

All Aboard Florida, developer of the only privately-owned and operated passenger rail service in the United States, unveiled a new express train travel service that would connect major cities between South and Central Florida.

This story

 

 

"It's quicker. It's just a smarter way to travel, but it's more convenient. It's more reliable. It's more enjoyable, and it's more productive," said Reininger.

It's more expensive too, when you consider that the Amtrak option between Miami and Orlando still will exist, and one will be able to take TriRail trains from the same downtown MiamiCentral station to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

[KevinKorell]

Florida Today, Melbourne, FL, 12/4/15:

Brightline rail project moves ahead; Brevard seeks stop

With construction underway on three new train stations in South Florida and one at Orlando International Airport, we're about two years away from seeing regularly scheduled passenger trains passing through Brevard County for the first time in years.

But the Brightline express trains operated by All Aboard Florida will only be passing through — not stopping. And that's something Space Coast officials hope will change at some point.

Full story here

[KevinKorell]

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 1/22/16:

Passenger rail improvements speed into WPB, Fort Lauderdale and Miami

A mural depicting a man on his way to his lover is being unveiled Saturday — a temporary exhibit to shield construction of the Brightline rail station in West Palm Beach.

But there's no hiding how the Miami-Orlando passenger rail is starting to emerge in South Florida.

Article

[KevinKorell]

Florida passenger rail service, Brightline and rail manufacturer, Siemens announced today that the first stainless steel passenger coach car shell for the new train service has been completed, reaching a major milestone in the construction of the trains.

More than 70 employees at Siemens’ state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Sacramento have worked on building this 85-foot-long first coach car, using more than 50,000 welds to fuse it together.

Siemens is employing first-of-its-kind spot-welding technology to build the stainless steel coach car shells and these coaches will be the only carbody with a flat sidewall of this type in the U.S. market. The completed coach shell will now go through a finishing process, preparing it for final assembly. 

“With the completion of the first coach car shell, we are bringing our vision for a truly unique train service that will transform travel in Florida one step closer to fruition,” said Mike Reininger, Brightline’s president. “The Siemens team has been working diligently and we are thrilled to mark this milestone as the finishing of this car progresses and the manufacture of additional cars continues.”

RELATED: [Photos] Building Siemens' first car shell for Brightline

This coach shell is part of the first of Brightline’s initial five four-car train sets that will each carry 240 passengers with more train sets to follow as the service expands.

“We’re thrilled to be marking this production milestone with the Brightline team and also recognizing the highly-skilled work taking place at our Sacramento rail manufacturing plant,” said Michael Cahill, president of Siemens Rolling Stock. “Siemens has been successfully building America's next era of innovative, high-performance and energy-efficient transportation solutions out of our Sacramento hub for decades, and we are excited to continue that tradition by employing the industry’s latest technologies and techniques to build these state-of-the-art trainsets for Brightline and its future riders.”

The Siemens Sacramento, Calif. manufacturing plant, which has been in operation for almost 30 years, is powered up to 80% by two megawatts of solar energy, currently employs over 800 people, and includes a recent 125,000-square-foot expansion to accommodate growing production needs.

To support the skills needed for the advanced welding techniques being employed to build these trainsets, Siemens has launched a workforce development and training initiative partnering with local community colleges and the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA). Siemens has also developed a robust and diverse base of U.S. rail suppliers to support the next-generation of rail manufacturing for Brightline including components from more than 40 suppliers in more than 20 states with additional suppliers still being added.   

Last week, Brightline poured the first concrete foundation for its Running Repair Facility in West Palm Beach, where the trains will be serviced and housed. Siemens will perform service and maintenance on the trains there. The facility is expected to be operation in August. Construction is also underway on Brightline’s train stations in Miami at MiamiCentral, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando.

Keywords

Brightline   Florida   passenger rail   railcar manufacturing   rolling stock   Siemens   

 

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