The privately funded intercity passenger rail system Brightline on Friday announced a new strategic partnership and trademark licensing agreement with one of the world’s most recognizable brands in travel and hospitality.
The partnership is with the Virgin Group, which will allow Brightline to leverage Virgin’s industry-leading expertise and customer experience to establish a new brand, Virgin Trains USA. Renaming to Virgin Trains USA will begin this month and transition to Virgin Trains USA branding in 2019.
However, Brightline still will be managed and operated by Brightline’s executive team and affiliates of Fortress Investment Group.
Brightline currently is running in South Florida and plans to expand into Orlando and Tampa.
Brightline will know by the end of November if it won the bid to lease the right-of-way along Interstate 4 from Orlando. The rail line is expected to begin operations in Orlando by 2021 or 2022.
It previously received approval on $1.75 billion in bonds for its Orlando-to-West Palm Beach route in a unanimous vote by the Florida Development Finance Corp on Aug. 29. The Orlando leg of the project is expected to bring $400 million worth of construction opportunities to Central Florida and create 6,600 local jobs.
“Given our shared values and Virgin’s track record, this partnership will help amplify our efforts and growth potential as we seek to expand to new markets," Brightline President Patrick Goddard said in a prepared statement.
The partnership could help provide access to millions of customers with the potential for increased ridership from other Virgin-branded travel and hospitality businesses, including Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Hotels and Virgin Voyages.
Virgin Group has significant experience operating in the United Kingdom rail sector, including its ongoing investment in Virgin Trains, a high-speed intercity passenger rail system which it has run for 21 years. Last year, passengers took more than 38 million trips on the UK’s West Coast Main Line.
"Our private sector-led effort to reinvent passenger rail service in America is taking another leap forward with the addition of the Virgin team,” said Wes Edens, chairman of Brightline and co-founder of Fortress Investment Group, in a prepared statement. “Virgin has built a respected and trusted brand in travel and hospitality. With our shared focus on customer experience, powered by a culture of innovation and disruption, we are well-positioned to build on our success.”
Total square feet of project under way
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2 | 2 | |
3 | 3 |