Virgin Trains USA land clearing underway for tracks near Beachline in Cocoa
Rick Neale, Florida Today Published 2:45 p.m. ET Aug. 1, 2019
Heavy-equipment operators are tearing down trees and thick vegetation to clear room for Virgin Trains USA tracks along State Road 528 in Cocoa.
Nearby, thousands of gray concrete railroad ties lie stacked near State Road 524 and Industry Road for the future passenger rail line, which will extend westward to Orlando International Airport.
"The Brightline Trains, soon to be Virgin Trains, construction team is underway with Phase 2 construction connecting Central Florida to South Florida," the company announced Tuesday on its LinkedIn page.
"A massive undertaking, one of the nation’s largest privately funded infrastructure projects, includes the development of 170 miles of new track. This encompasses 225 million pounds of American steel and 490,000 ties," the post stated.
Formerly known as All Aboard Florida and Brightline, Virgin Trains is building a $4 billion rail network between Miami and Orlando. The privately owned company now commutes passengers between Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
Virgin Trains will extend those tracks northward along the Florida East Coast Railway railbed to "the Cocoa curve" near the Interstate 95-Beachline interchange. From there, tracks will bend to the west and follow the Beachline to the Orlando airport.
^ Thousands of Virgin Trains USA concrete railroad ties are stacked near State Road 524 and Industry Road in Cocoa. (Photo: MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY)
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/n...oa/1868329001/