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I guess it all depends on the specific technical and spares support agreements that are signed. In the case of Brightline, I was told they have had adequate spare parts supplies on hand in West Palm Beach. I saw their warehouse of parts there - it is a decent sized operation to support their existin...

I ask again, Is brightline getting techs who actually know the gear, and amtrak getting contractors who had training classes? I think to others' points, Brightline never had another locomotive. Their techs and mechanics have only ever worked on SC-44s (at least, for Brightline). Amtrak has a little...

Back in February the local newspaper asked Brightline about the pending sale of the Tampa Park Park Apartment site to Darryl Shaw. Brightline denied any involvement at the time. Now it seems they have been talking with Mr. Shaw about using his properties in the area as the location for their Tampa s...

Do any of these proposals involve rebuilding/expanding Tampa Union Station? No, this is just a very preliminary memorandum of understanding between two parties - Brightline and Mr. Shaw. None of the sites include any property associated with Tampa Union Station (TUS). And back in the beginning in 2...

https://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/news/2020/09/15/brightline-darryl-shaw-ybor-city-rail-station.html Brightline is looking at 3 locations near downtown Tampa. All 3 sites are between Tampa Union Station and Ybor City. One is the former proposed site of a baseball stadium. The other is owned by t...

New double track lift bridge proposed for the St Lucie River crossing in Stuart http://veronews.com/2019/10/24/virgin-rail-seeks-local-support-for-costly-new-bridge/ This is very interesting news. Virgin is asking for local government support to apply for federal grants to replace the existing singl...

Just an observation here regarding the use of trainsets and power at both ends. Brightline has been running this exact setup for almost 2 years now. They don't seem to have issues with trainsets out of service due to single car issues. Nor do they appear to have issues with running 2 heavy diesel el...

Yes there is a single island platform. The bypass track was used during station construction to allow for freight trains to use the corridor with minimal interruption. That is another big reason why I believe bypass tracks will be installed elsewhere along the FECR. They facilitate construction and ...

From what I understand, the bypass tracks in FTL and WPB are for FECR trains that have wide or oversized loads. They are not normally used, although I did see a video of the WPB bypass being used by a freight train since both station tracks were occupied. I would assume any future stations on the FE...

gokeefe, the bonds have not and will never be backed by any government entity. The FDFC (FL Development Finance Corp) is the state agency used to issue the bonds as required by federal law. Its primary role is to ensure the bonds to be issued are of sufficient quality that the investors have a reaso...

Also, the Miami Herald opinion piece mentioned in an earlier post is written by a noted Florida writer who happens to live in Vero Beach. That is in the heart of the staunchest opposition to Brightline/Virgin. This is his 3rd story I know of where he slams Brightline in the past 5 years. It is obvio...

Mr. Norman, am curious what your thoughts are about Moody's rating the latest PAB bonds at Aaa/VMIG 1, which is a superior rating for municipal bonds. Seems like the 1.9% coupon is a big improvement over the earlier 2019A series bonds that had an average 6.4% coupon. https://emma.msrb.org/ES1277493-...

Virgin Trains America fka Brightline is an unfair comparison because it receives a massive dose of government subsidy too: use of public rights-of-way, redevelopment grants, favorable SEC rulings, local road maintenance, tourism boards doing Sir Branson’s work, and the publicly-funded passenger ter...

Well, I am not sure if I agree completely with your point of view specifically or if my thoughts happen to align with it. I still want to believe that FECI/Fortress and the investors think that this project will be an ongoing profitable business not requiring a bail out by Tally in the future. My th...

With regard to Branson. Where to start? The media reporting and fan boy commenting over the past week has deified Branson as the savior of Brightline. Branson is being idolized at this point. In my opinion, he is a showman who has a checkered past with his history of companies. Sure, he has name rec...