After a 20-month shutdown due to the pandemic, Brightline, which wants to run moderate-speed passenger trains from Miami to Orlando, resumed service between Miami and West Palm Beach on Monday — and hit a car on its very first day. The company is building a line to Orlando, and is asking the state-owned Florida Development Finance Corporation for the right to sell tax-exempt private activity bonds to help pay for it.
I would be thrilled to see privately funded passenger trains. But Brightline’s presentation to the Florida Development company’s board of directors contains a lot of distortions of the truth that reduce my enthusiasm for this project. Continue reading
