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First the Future.
Those of you who have been reading this blog know that I think Florida's Brightline train--I have mistakenly been misspelling it BrightLine--is the wave of the future. Privately financed and funded, its owners and investors seek to actually turn a profit running a passenger rail service. Richard Branson apparently thought so, too, and has purchased a minority share of the company. It must be a substantial share, as the company is rebranding to Virgin Trains USA in 2019, with the name change currently applying to what once was Brightline.
This came just after Brightline and its owner-operators Fortress Investment Group took over what once was Las Vegas Railway Express and/or X Train, and had become XpressWest--I think I've got caps in the right places this time--though moribund with respect to doing any actual railroading. The new project seeks to complete a higher-speed passenger rail link from Los Angeles, CA, to Las Vegas, NV. Given the private money behind these projects, I think it is possible that La La Land will see and ride a higher-speed train Los Angeles to Las Vegas long before the last rail clip is fastened on California High-Speed Rail from LA to San Francisco. See Branson caveat below.
Then the Grinch.
Did you know that Richard Anderson, the nice guy running Amtrak, turned down the Marines' request to run a Toys-for-Tots train? What a super guy!
Last I heard, this will also fall to private benefactors to run the train, and it will run. Norfolk Southern has acknowledged the railroad lives and works in the communities it serves, and owes it to them to give back. The whole service concept has been lost on Amtrak since the Grinch took over. Note: Amtrak has apparently begrudgingly decided to provide a couple of cars for the train now that NS has shown it how to step up to the plate. Hmmm.
Finally, for all my praise of Brightline as a privately operated entity, I hope it did not sell out to Mr. Branson so he could get local government to build him terminals and stations as he has with Truth or Consequences, NM, and his Virgin Galactic space tourism venture, which has never gotten off the ground in New Mexico.
