Brightline wants $350 million to build five rail stations between Miami and Aventura

Brightline is in talks with Miami-Dade to build five train platforms between Miami and Aventura and launch a $425 million commuter-rail system as the for-profit rail company plans to launch express trains to Orlando in the coming years.

The proposed deal revealed late Tuesday night would mean a significant influx of tax dollars to the company behind the new Virgin-branded train line, which shut down completely during the coronavirus crisis. Miami-Dade would pay the company $350 million to construct stations after Brightline spent $75 million building platforms that could be used to launch the service. The commuter line would be separate from the express trains Brightline plans to launch in 2022, a venture the company said it is still pursuing during its continued shutdown.

The plan also would shift a long-term goal of having the government-run Tri-Rail system launch a coastal line where Henry Flagler once ran his trains. That land now belongs to Brightline, which traces its corporate roots back to Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway. Instead of spending public dollars on Tri-Rail’s coastal link, Miami-Dade would pay Brightline to build the stations, provide the tracks and run the new commuter rail line.

The proposed arrangement would give Miami-Dade a new rail service with stops in Wynwood, the Design District, El Portal, North Miami and the Biscayne Bay campus of Florida International University, completing the Northeast Corridor component in the 2016 transit initiative called the SMART Plan.

In October, Miami-Dade agreed to pay Brightline about $76 million for a commuter station in Aventura, and this proposed deal wouldn’t change that agreement.

Described as a company proposal in a legislative item on the County Commission’s June 2 agenda, the deal represents an offer subject to negotiations by the administration of Mayor Carlos Gimenez. The company has been in talks with the mayor about the effort to bring commuter rail along the coast of Miami-Dade and Broward, east of the existing Tri-Rail line. In March, Gimenez met with Brightline executives and Broward Administrator Bertha Henry at the company’s Miami headquarters.

A primary question hovering over the proposal is whether Miami-Dade could afford the payouts outlined by Brightline. Along with $350 million to cover construction, the county would pay yearly rent on company tracks starting at $29 million.

Miami-Dade would also cover yearly operating costs, estimated at between $30 million and $50 million. To compensate the company for running the new service, Miami-Dade would pay an additional 10 percent of those costs as a management fee, plus about $2 million a year to rent new trains.

The proposal, sponsored by Commissioner Sally Heyman, whose district includes the northern end of the line, calls for the Gimenez administration to negotiate a deal within 90 days.

While short on details, the proposal describes a rail service similar to Tri-Rail, with waits of between 20 and 30 minutes during peak times and an hour when demand is low. Miami-Dade and the company would agree on the fares, and the county would keep the revenue after an initial period through 2022 when the company would retain the dollars. The company said it could get the stations running within 12 months of closing a deal.

The proposal also raises the possibility of other funding sources, including federal stimulus money tied to coronavirus relief and cities and other entities along the rail line contributing dollars.

The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, the tax-funded board that runs Tri-Rail, had no comment on the proposal Wednesday.

In a statement, Brightline President Patrick Goddard didn’t mention Tri-Rail but pitched the project as a way to move quickly on the Northeast rail corridor.

“We’re excited to advance a plan that has been well-studied and long discussed in South Florida,” he said. “Beyond connectivity and added mobility for businesses and commuters accessing the downtown area, the investment would be a built-in stimulus plan, creating jobs and development that will be critical for our state’s rebound.”

Miami Herald Staff Writer Rob Wile contributed to this report.

This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 10:39 AM.