Miami-Dade grants initial approval to PortMiami station for Brightline
Miami-Dade commissioners voted Tuesday to move forward with negotiations for a new Brightline station at PortMiami and earmarked $5.2 million for station. The plan calls for a $7 million payment back to the county five years after service begins.
When completed, it would be the county’s third Brightline station. Earlier this month, the county approved $76.7 million to fund a new station in Aventura for the express line. Downtown’s MiamiCentral Station became operational in May 2018.
Brightline a privately owned passenger rail service, currently runs from downtown Miami to downtown West Palm Beach. An extension to Orlando is currently underway. The service is expected to transition to the name Virgin Trains by the end of the year.
The PortMiami station would represent the first leg of Brightline’s vision of a direct rail-line from Orlando International Airport to the largest cruise hub in the world. Virgin is slated to bring its first cruise ship to PortMiami in April 2020. The Orlando leg is expected to be completed sometime in 2022.
“This is a first,” said Patrick Goddard, President of Virgin Trains, in a statement; Brightline is expected to be rebranded under the Virgin moniker. “A car-free option [will be available] for millions of cruisers looking to start their vacation a little earlier.”
The PortMiami station would see trains running on about two miles of existing cargo tracks from MiamiCentral Station, with two round-trip legs a day for the first two years of operation, increasing to four thereafter. No ticket prices have been revealed.
In exchange for the capital injection, Miami-Dade will charge Brightline a $2 fee for each departing train passenger. If the county has not received $7 million by the end of the fifth full year of operation, Virgin will pay the balance.
Fees will continue to increase annually such that over 30 years, the county expects to recoup $49 million. If the train is operational for 90 years, the county said it would ultimately receive $490 million.
Brightline is hoping these new stations, as well as additional new ones in discussion in Broward and Palm Beach counties, will boost ridership, which is currently running behind projections for 2019. In public filings, the company had projected at least 2 million riders; as of September 30, there had been 701,061.
Tuesday’s vote authorizes Mayor Carlos Gimenez to negotiate a final contract, which then must be approved by the board of commissioners.
“This private-public partnership is a great opportunity to expand PortMiami’s connectivity to visitors traveling from central Florida and for Miami-Dade County residents to get to the Orlando area in a quick, enjoyable way,” Gimenez said in a statement.
This story was originally published October 29, 2019 at 1:16 PM.
