Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
That will happen. Brightline is trying to scam off Amtrak's infrastructure improvements, and right-wing rhetoric over privatizing everything. They also have a nasty habit of killing people, since they lobbied for special exceptions for rail-crossing rules, and this being Florida, people are regularly dying trying to cross the tracks. Brightline won't exist in a few years.
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This is wildly inaccurate. Brightline is not using any of Amtrak's infrastructure. They run on FEC tracks or new-build "greenfield" tracks, Amtrak uses the CSX corridor that runs further inland. To date, the only government resources they've used are loan programs that are also available to other private companies like toll road operators.
They are set to take taxpayer grant money for part of the Orlando-Tampa expansion, but only because Orlando leaders demanded a more expensive route past the convention center and Universal Studios. Brightline had an alternate cheaper routing that they were going to self-fund, but it only served Disney World. In return for the taxpayer investment, SunRail will get access to run publicly-funded commuter service on the tracks along with Brightline. Down in Miami, Brightline has also agreed to let publicly-funded TriRail use its gorgeous new privately-funded downtown terminal.
The grade crossing issue is a problem, but Brightline doesn't have any special exceptions. They follow the exact same rules that Amtrak uses to run 90mph trains over grade crossings in Illinois, Michigan, Virginia or California. Florida drivers just seem to have a death wish and don't respect grade crossings for whatever reason. An unholy combination of hordes of seniors who should have lost their licenses long ago, plus younger people who never had a proper driver's ed and aren't used to frequent train crossings like you would see in suburban LA, NJ, Chicago, Boston, etc.
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