Business

Brightline cut ties with Virgin Enterprises. No more rebranding but projects continue

Brightline Trains has cut ties with Virgin Enterprises and will no longer be rebranding under them. A nearly two-year agreement ended.

A July monthly revenue and ridership report from Brightline announced the news of Virgin and Brightline going separate ways.

“We will no longer use the Virgin brand following our parent’s termination of its licensing agreement with Virgin Enterprises Limited [together with its affiliates, “Virgin”],” the report read.

The two companies entered into a partnership in 2018 and planned to have Brightline operations be renamed to Virgin Trains USA in December 2019, but that never happened.

Even though the partnership ended, Brightline will continue progress on its projects even though the novel coronavirus pandemic has brought the train company new challenges.

In March, passenger rail services were temporarily suspended and staffing was reduced. Through July, Brightline has made $6.6 million in revenue with about 272,000 passengers, about half as less revenue and passengers from this time last year

The revenue report also said “substantial progress” on negotiations with Miami-Dade County on a new county commuter rail between Miami and Aventura.

The company also said they are making progress on a Walt Disney World station in Orlando and other new stations that will serve key attractions and locations, such as Aventura, Boca Raton and PortMiami.

Devoun Cetoute
Miami Herald
Miami Herald Cops and Breaking News Reporter Devoun Cetoute covers a plethora of Florida topics, from breaking news to crime patterns. He was on the breaking news team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2022. He’s a graduate of the University of Florida, born and raised in Miami-Dade. Theme parks, movies and cars are on his mind in and out of the office.
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