Brightline ready to expand rail system to Tampa

[thelakelander]

Who knows. Probably another extension. The last time I heard, the ridership forecast numbers weren't looking good for an expensive extension to Tampa. I would not be surprised if they phase it and focus on getting to Disney and SunRail first instead. Both likely promise just as many riders, if not more, than a through trip to Tampa.

[Pottsburg]

Brightline has laid off 250 of their 300 employees.  They will be shut down for a while.  Orlando is still the goal, but like i said before stations like Boca Raton will not happen anytime soon.  Its going to be a while before you see another brightline train running.

[thelakelander]

Yes, the virus and South Florida being under a restrict stay at home order, means there's little reason to run a private train system for commuting right now. However, construction to Orlando still continues. I just got off a call today. A lot of transportation infrastructure projects are being advanced since people are off the road. As a result, my days are busier right now.

[bl8jaxnative]

Brightline has laid off 250 of their 300 employees.  They will be shut down for a while.  Orlando is still the goal, but like i said before stations like Boca Raton will not happen anytime soon.  Its going to be a while before you see another brightline train running.

Not surprised that the construction is going on right now.  I'm curious what this does to their plans. they had a lot of capital that still needed to be raised.   I'm curious how this is going to affect the capital markets.

[bl8jaxnative]

as one would expect - but companies have done crazier things - most of the debt they're taking on for construction is tied in with bonds.  And those bonds are set up so they don't start paying down principal until 2022.

https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/floridas-virgin-trains-suspends-passenger-service-due-to-coronavirus


The debt is part of three allocations of tax-exempt private activity bonds by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Those were $600 million issued in 2017 and redeemed last year along with the separate issuance of $1.15 billion and the $950 million.

The $1.15 billion deal set aside funds for certain reserves, but a debt service reserve isn't expected to be funded until passenger rail service begins between Orlando and West Palm Beach in 2022, according to the official statement.

"We've pre-paid interest until 2022," Porritt said. "All work related to Orlando continues and we see no adverse impact on our timeline."

[MusicMan]

My bro-in-law was laid off too. He was Director of Media Relations and Corporate Affairs.  It sucks for him, but he's saved plenty of money and will pick up something new I'm sure.

[bl8jaxnative]

Anyone know what happens if Branson goes belly-up?   How may that affect Virgin Trains USA?

[thelakelander]

Probably the same thing that happens when someone builds a structure for a new business and it fails. A new business goes in. 4 Rivers Smokehouse, Metro Diner, most of our craft breweries, etc. are good examples of this. In the case of Virgin, if it fails, at worst we'll have high quality infrastructure connecting Disney to Downtown Miami. That makes it easier for a follow up entity to utilize it, considering they won't have the weight of intial construction costs on their hands.

[tufsu1]

Anyone know what happens if Branson goes belly-up?   How may that affect Virgin Trains USA?

he's leveraging his private island as collateral for saving Virgin Airlines

[Pottsburg]

as one would expect - but companies have done crazier things - most of the debt they're taking on for construction is tied in with bonds.  And those bonds are set up so they don't start paying down principal until 2022.

https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/floridas-virgin-trains-suspends-passenger-service-due-to-coronavirus


The debt is part of three allocations of tax-exempt private activity bonds by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Those were $600 million issued in 2017 and redeemed last year along with the separate issuance of $1.15 billion and the $950 million.

The $1.15 billion deal set aside funds for certain reserves, but a debt service reserve isn't expected to be funded until passenger rail service begins between Orlando and West Palm Beach in 2022, according to the official statement.

"We've pre-paid interest until 2022," Porritt said. "All work related to Orlando continues and we see no adverse impact on our timeline."

    Yes the reason the second phase isn't stopping is because it's already funded.  Like I said before they are STILL not finished with the first phase. Yes the train was running but they still have major issues that need to be worked out. The first phase has had all funding cut and everyone has been sent home. That being said when the second phase is completed they will still need to fix things on the first phase before everything is fully operational. 3 years before you see another train running.  Hopefully they don't run out of money.

[thelakelander]

If they do, then the state will have a state of the art rail network between Orlando and Miami that could be put to a good number of sustainable economic mobility uses.

[Pottsburg]

If they do, then the state will have a state of the art rail network between Orlando and Miami that could be put to a good number of sustainable economic mobility uses.

    If FEC let's them, also it depends how much is left to do. State will not want to spend a lot of money to finish a project. We will see, we need the economy to pick back up and we need gas prices to get back to normal levels. Cheap gas means trucking the freight is cheaper.

[thelakelander]

One thing I do know is no one is pulling up state of the art rail infrastructure. Especially in the district I work in. If the economy flatlines, expect public investment in all sorts of infrastructure and mobility projects as an attempt to put people to work. Regardless of for freight, passenger rail or both, it will be used.

[bl8jaxnative]

Who owns that line going from Cocoa to MCO?  Is all of it owned by FEC?  Afterall that's who Virgin has the lease with.  Or will Virgin own it? 

Or it it all on the central florida expressway authority land with Virgin just owning the rail + leasing the land?

[thelakelander]

CFX and FDOT. The corridor is being built on leased public ROW. If Virgin flops, neither is going to pull up a new, state-of-the-art double tracked rail line connecting Orlando to the coast and Port Canaveral. That becomes a great public mobility asset.