The Brightline Thread

[electricron]

Originally Posted by N830MH

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/br...114-story.html

I cannot not believe this. Remember what happened in a few weeks ago and now this. That's not good! He can't be go around the trains tracks. He have stay away from the tracks. He's breaking the law. Cypress Creek station is closed until the further notice. There is 250 passengers is waiting for the trains.

Are you aware that TriRail and All Aboard Florida are two entirely different operations?

[bobdreamz]

All Aboard Florida has been calling one of the planned towers at MiamiCentral a ‘supertower,’ and it could could become one of the tallest buildings in the country.

According to a recent filing with the FAA, All Aboard Florida wants to build the tower as high as 1,120 feet above ground (or 1,131 above sea level). That would make it taller than any building that exists or is under construction in the U.S., outside of New York and Chicago.

It also won’t be the only tall tower at MiamiCentral. At least one other high rise at the site is proposed to rise to 840 feet above ground.

Site work is already underway at MiamiCentral and the first phase will begin full construction soon.

The tower at MiamiCentral is one of several that are vying to break the 1,000-foot mark in Miami. The FAA has been reviewing a tower at Brickell City Centre that is proposed to rise 1,040 feet above ground for over a year (Swire has already reduced the height from initial plans that exceeded 1,100 feet).



Link: http://www.thenextmiami.com/index.ph...e-tallest-u-s/

[bobdreamz]

Site Work Underway At All Aboard Florida’s Miami Central Terminal In Downtown Miami
By TNM Staff on November 5, 2014

Heavy equipment rolled on to the Miami Central site yesterday to begin prep work for the CBD’s most important project in decades.

Miami Centrals’ first phase will add 178,000 square feet of retail space to the area, including a supermarket (see leasing plans below).

Banners placed around the property say that the project, which will serve as a terminal for All Aboard Florida’s rail line to Orlando, is ‘arriving’ in 2016.

The Miami-West Palm Beach portion of the project is fully funded. Work recently began on the Ft. Lauderdale station.



^ Metrorail & Metromover tracks pass by one of the blocks where site work has commenced.







http://www.thenextmiami.com/index.ph...comment-393634

[Jasonhouse]

Yay!!!

[Eightball]

Very cool!

[Prahaboheme]

Originally Posted by eleven=11

waiting for the Orlando Airport Station design and construction
maybe a hotel next to the train station & garage......

is the Miami station started??

Here is the current design for the OIA Intermodal Station:




The expansion airport terminal will be built around the intermodal station, which may include an additional hotel.

The Intermodal Station will have the following connections:
All Aboard Florida
SunRail - Orlando's Commuter Rail train system which will have a new link directly to the airport
The Airport People Mover (between terminals)
Maglev (connecting the airport to International Drive) - believe this one when you see it...

[Hatman]

Wow. that OIA intermodal station certainly exceeded my expectations. I like the wide platforms and the tall, wide canopy structure with skylights.

I've forgotten how the arrangement at that station will work... AAF will own a waiting lounge and... will they also own their own platforms? If not, how will they resolve the high-platform level-boarding issue?

Also, great to see work starting in Miami!

[N830MH]

Sigh...Finally!!! Long overdue!!!!!

[eleven=11]

nice update on the Orlando Airport.....
what tracks are SunRail and AAF????

[Prahaboheme]

Originally Posted by Hatman

Wow. that OIA intermodal station certainly exceeded my expectations. I like the wide platforms and the tall, wide canopy structure with skylights.

I've forgotten how the arrangement at that station will work... AAF will own a waiting lounge and... will they also own their own platforms? If not, how will they resolve the high-platform level-boarding issue?

Also, great to see work starting in Miami!

AAF will be renting platforms from GOAA (Greater Orlando Airport Administration) who will own and manage the Intermodal Station at OIA.

Here is a great fly-through simulation of the Orlando station:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH3_...ature=youtu.be

[Hatman]

Okay, got it. AAF will lease the platform and two tracks, with the other two tracks going to SunRail. It looks from the video that the platform meant for AAF will be a high platform and the other (SunRail) will be a lower platform, so that both types of boarding height can be accomodated. It struck me as odd at first that the airport would build and lease a piece of infrastucture that was so specific (AAF will be the only intercity rail service in Florida using/requiring high-level platforms, to my knowledge). But I guess that may not be necessarily true in the future.
Regardless of my initial confusion, this looks like a good project.
...Though I still kinda wish AAF were able to go to downtown Orlando as well. What would it take for trains, after stopping at OIA, to continue on the Sunrail corridor to, say, the Orlando Amtrak station? (or any other centralized location near downtown?) Besides trackage rights, there would need to be a new high platform constructed on a new siding track, which isn't that hard to do... Just sayin'.

[eleven=11]

http://www.goldenduskphotography.com...oard%20Florida


nice photos from Nov 24th

[eleven=11]

anybody seen the NEW pics of the WPB station???

[eleven=11]

more stuff on Tri-rail/AAF very good info thou
stupid politicians.
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/...tomypbp_launch

[Hatman]

Sorry for the size of the picture - it isn't mine. I pulled it off of the Miami Today news article below:

Miami Today, All Aboard Florida revises station planshttp://www.miamitodaynews.com/2014/1...station-plans/

It looks like they are planning to build two AAF platforms, two Tri-rail platforms, and one that could possibly be used as either in the middle. It has a high platform on the AAF side, though I can't tell if that is meant to be a low platform on the other.

Also, TRAINS magazing recently ran a story on the Florida East Coast Railway, and had this little snippet to say about AAF

"You can keep cajoling Micheal Reininger, All Aboard Florida's president, about the viability of the enterprise, but he's unperturbed. Most passenger train systems, he says, are designed to attract the most riders at the lowest cost and are therefore destined to require subsidy. All Aboard Florida is designed to make money by actracting enough people at a profitable ticket price and to provide a return on that investment to the company."

The idea being that when they started calculating if such a business could make money or not, they started at the ticket price and worked backward from there, not with ridership estimates. I think that is a useful model to follow for any other potential corridor where a premium private passenger train might be viable.

[eleven=11]

I read that Miami Today article about the NEW pics of AAF miami station
but nothing is new ..... seems same as before

[eleven=11]

new link for OIA orlando airport expansion
anybody know a better website for airport news??
http://media.bizj.us/view/img/4581801/goaa122014.pdf

[eleven=11]

http://www.thenextmiami.com/index.ph...-now-reviewed/
great article with good pics, but still dont know whats really newish.

[M II A II R II K]

Feds give All Aboard OK to issue $1.75 billion in tax-exempt bonds

Read More: http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/...#__federated=1

The U.S. Department of Transportation has provisionally approved $1.75 billion in private activity bonds for All Aboard Florida, an unprecedented amount and a move that reduces a major financial obstacle for the express passenger rail line.

- A final approval for the bonds is conditional on All Aboard Florida completing an environmental review process which closed for public comment earlier this month. If granted, it would be the largest amount of private activity bonds awarded any single entity.

- “This authority enables All Aboard Florida to borrow funds necessary to complete their project from private investors at no risk to taxpayers,” a statement released Monday by the Department of Transportation said. “Liability for full repayment of bonds sold rests exclusively with All Aboard Florida and its subsidiaries.”

- While the provisional approval is a step closer to project completion, All Aboard Florida must still abide by results of the environmental impact report, which is under review by the Federal Railroad Administration. It also faces scrutiny by the Coast Guard, which oversees waterways blocked by aging FEC drawbridges when trains go over.

- “If All Aboard Florida does not comply with the conditions of the allocation, DOT reserves the right to pursue every remedy, including withdrawing the allocated tax-exempt authority,” DOT said. --- There has been $15 billion set aside at the federal level for private activity bonds. As of Sept. 17, the U.S. Department of Transportation has issued $4.8 billion for 13 projects. Another $5.4 billion has been allocated for seven projects. None of the projects is in Florida.

- Private activity bonds are not without critics. Because they are tax-exempt, some groups have complained they amount to a government subsidy because they eliminate money that would have gone into federal coffers.

.....

[chris08876]

East-west passenger rail for Miami?

In an effort to alleviate traffic in the county, a Miami-Dade transportation planning organization is looking into whether existing freight tracks could be used for a future passenger train.

The Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is studying whether passenger trains could run on existing CSX freight tracks that run east-west in Central Miami-Dade.

The MPO board, comprised of county and municipal elected officials, OK’d the study to move forward at its meeting last Thursday.

“The idea is to allow the folks in the western part of the county to have an alternative,” said County Commissioner Juan Zapata, an MPO board member who sponsored the initiative for the study. “I think the study would be able to shed a light on the feasibility and, again, looking at all these different assets, being able to have a much more comprehensive solution to the traffic problems out in the western part of the county.”

The study would look at the feasibility of reactivating the CSX line, which runs more or less parallel to Northwest 12th Street, from Northwest 37th Avenue west to 137th Avenue, county records show.

The eastern portion of the track is just south of Miami International Airport and runs parallel to the Dolphin Expressway. It ends at the existing Miami Intermodal Center, a transportation hub just east of the airport where Metrorail, Tri-Rail and buses stop.

The idea of using existing freight tracks, either operating or inactive, to run passenger trains isn’t new.

[...]

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http://www.miamitodaynews.com/2014/1...er-rail-miami/