ANOTHER TRAIN COMING TO DISNEY! - Brightline/SunRail Spring 2022 Update

[Music] it has been one year since our last update on the brightline rail system florida's brightline is the first privately funded inner city passenger railroad to be constructed in america in over 100 years and is currently one of the largest infrastructure projects happening in the united states the system which is already fully operational on the phase one route between miami and west palm beach is less than a year away from completing its phase ii routes from west palm beach to the orlando international airport where from there negotiations are underway on a route from the airport through the city of orlando connecting to walt disney world with further connections extending all the way to tampa a part of the route that brightline is already planning with work barreling ahead on the high-speed rail segment to the orlando international airport and high-level negotiations underway on the route through orlando which will have major implications for florida residents and tourists alike i thought it was well past time we head aboard the system and find out what exactly we should expect on that route to disney and beyond [Music] before we talk about some breaking news on the rail segment through the city of orlando i first want to give you an update on the progress with the phase 2 route from west palm beach to the orlando international airport which brightline says is 70 complete and slated to begin operation at the very beginning of 2023 the first section of track between west palm beach and cocoa utilizes the existing florida east coast railway which is still undergoing capacity improvements in order to provide efficient service to additional trains soon to be running this corridor hourly most notable along this stretch of track is that brightline trains are now running from west palm beach through cocoa without passengers doing qualification testing which is where operating crews can familiarize themselves with the landscape the crossings and gradually work up to operating speed in time for when this route is going to open at the coco curve where brightline's brand new coco to orlando line splits off from the florida east coast railway main line you can see track is quite close to the tunnel we saw installed last year where soon track will run through the tunnel around that bend beyond it where from there the track runs along state road 528 all the way to the orlando international airport crossing north and south of the road a few times along the way to illustrate the progress on brightline's route to orlando i figured we should take a look at footage of the spots from one year ago and compare them to what's happening now first off at industry road just west of the coco curve you can see just how much work there was still to be done on the bridge as of last year now the half of the bridge's capacity brightline will need for this initial operation has been completed and the sub-road bed extends before and after the area is surfaced and it is 100 ready for track going further west towards orlando next up we have the tunnel near interstate 95 where brightline's high-speed orlando line is going to cross underneath state road 528 and assume a route south of the road the rest of the way to the airport last we talked about brightline work had just begun on constructing this tunnel and the 528 traffic it was all being routed temporarily around the future crossover now you can see the tunnel itself is done all that dirt moving work and everything there's all that dirt on top of the tunnel as well it is so far along that the eastbound traffic you can see is now flowing over the tunnel with work on the westbound traffic as well as track installation itself looking like it's not too far behind brightline currently plans for this entire route to be completed by the end of this year and i think it's safe to say taking a look at this footage that this looks like a goal that brightline is going to hit due to testing with the trains that'll need to be done first once the route is ready to go passenger service won't begin until the beginning of 2023. moving further west to innovation way last year you can see work was already pretty far along now the track it is in it has been installed so very very exciting to see there getting closer to the airport at narcoossee road uh where there's a 711 there that i filmed from not only of gas prices gone up but so has this new right-of-way over the road which will carry brightline trains to the orlando international airport at this spot there was lots of visible work going on while i was there getting the area ready then arriving at the airport itself last year there was already plenty of track work that was going on now you can see the track through the airport grounds is so far along it looks ready to go to me it looks like brightline trains could be running on these sections of track today which is so so great to see taking the new automated people mover to the intermodal terminal facility through the windows inside you can see the massive amount of construction happening on the new c terminal which is right next to the new intermodal terminal station orlando international airport's new sea terminal is set to open sometime later this year upstairs in the intermodal terminal the future entrance to brightline is still walled off but work is said to be getting underway furnishing the passenger areas you'll have beyond that wall inside the oia station looking out the back of the intermodal terminal you can see tracks stretching off into the distance where in the future brightline will be running through the city of orlando connecting to disney and beyond this brings us to the big question when will you be able to take a train from the airport to walt disney world and furthermore will the route go south of orlando direct to disney or will brightline take the far more expensive and more useful route through the city opening up a possible stop at the orange county convention center with universal and sea world being just minutes away from there well last year the approval process on brightline's preferred hunters creek route south of orlando avoiding the heart of the city ground to a halt universal and other area businesses pooled resources to lobby against that route and for a route that goes through the city of orlando being more useful to these businesses bringing passengers much closer to them brightline has made it clear that route is way too expensive for them to do alone there are so many right-of-ways so many bridges and tunnels and things that would need to be constructed it's just not something they can do like they did coco to orlando which was a lot of undeveloped land and not that many crossings so what has been happening since lots and lots of meetings high level discussions between the governor's office brightline orange county and the city of orlando the situation is orange county's mayor jerry demings is up for re-election he faces a problem with another florida rail line a local commuter rail in orlando called sunrail for the first seven years of operation sunrail's operating costs and maintenance have been financed by the state's florida department of transportation after seven years the state intended to step aside and these costs were assumed to become the responsibility of the partner counties who utilize the system due to covid and lack of preparedness for anyone else to assume responsibility the state has extended their funding of the system to 2024 at which point orange and the surrounding counties will need to have something else worked out sunrail to say it isn't profitable would be a massive understatement one critical measure of a transportation system's viability is its fare box recovery ratio this is the fraction of operating expenses which are met by the fares paid by its passengers for example looking to asia the model for high-speed rail hong kong's mass transit railway has a stunning 172 percent fare box ratio which is to say it makes much more money in fares than it costs to operate this is a highly successful system owing greatly to the urban density you have there which we lack in north america now taking a look at central florida's sunrail its farebox recovery ratio is seven percent that means all the fares collected by passengers who ride the system account for just seven percent of what the system costs to operate every single year have you ever wondered why mass transit here in america is virtually all government run this is why it is very hard to make money doing it in this country safe to say it's a mess that soon orange county will be responsible for financing to combat this looming uptick in expenses mayor demings is pushing for a one percent transportation sales tax in the county arguing this tax will be paid by tourists not just residents the idea is pennies from most transactions in the county will go towards creating a new bucket of cash that will help cover the expenses for public transportation like this since he's up for re-election deming's opponents are criticizing the idea of imposing a higher sales tax in an age when residents are already facing massive inflation regardless of who is mayor though the money will need to come from somewhere the other aspect of this situation i need to touch on in order to paint you a picture of what this all means is what exactly brightline's passenger rail system is all about it's not solely about taking you from the airport to disney this privately funded venture aims to bring people between cities brightline is an inter-city passenger rail system meaning miami to tampa tampa to orlando west palm beach to disney and so on it's a luxury experience that can't be enjoyed in the 20 minutes between the airport and disney the value isn't there as much as it is with longer segments what this means is if brightline is successful the hourly train that arrives from west palm beach to the orlando international airport will already be mostly full with guests from southern florida destined for places beyond the airport like disney and tampa sure it might be possible for you to land at the airport and hop on a bright line to disney but there won't be many open seats and the fare will be quite costly for such a short journey in fact since orlando is quite dense and any route will require many crossings as a result due to the height and safety precautions the bright line will not be traveling very fast this means if you were to drive from the airport to disney you'd likely make it in the same amount of time or even faster than it would take a brightline train so disney fans might be saying what's the big deal with this railroad then why are people talking about it when it doesn't seem much better than a car between the airport and disney see it's not a matter of time between the airport and disney it's a matter of cost to drive between the two means that you need to have a car most tourists don't want to spend 200 a day extra on a rental or pay an obscene fee for an uber or to be packed into a bus for not much less tourists especially international ones arrive in orlando expecting a commuter train system and currently there isn't one connected to the airport this is where the talks with the governor's office the mayor's the sunrail situation and brightline's difficulties all collide fact is sunrail which is a cheap fare short-haul commuter rail system could use connections like the airport the convention center and disney but is already facing huge financial issues that make expanding the system very difficult brightline meanwhile just needs to go through orlando somehow they're just trying to get from the airport to disney and beyond as part of their grand vision connecting all of these too short to fly too long to drive destinations around the state of florida brightline alone can't pay for that prime route through orlando which all the big businesses in the city except for disney have been pushing for brightline alone also can't service all those planes full of passengers constantly arriving at the orlando international airport wanting to take a train short distance to these local tourist attractions so what if thanks to that federal infrastructure bill that passed last year florida was able to procure federal funds to help construct a commuter rail segment from the airport's intermodal terminal through orlando connecting sunrail's existing lines and all major tourist attractions in the city and in the meantime brightline works on constructing their privately funded route from disney to tampa that taxpayer-funded commuter rail route through orlando once complete would be leased by brightline bringing in revenue to help pay for the sunrail so every hour brightline trains would pass through on the commuter rail as part of long-haul journeys across the state while every 15 minutes sun rails arrive and depart from the airport taking guests on short haul journeys bringing them to places like the convention center and walt disney world for a very low price pursuing a federal grant for a rail utilized by the sunrail and leased by brightline would be the best of all possible worlds both for florida residents and tourists the only parties it wouldn't be ideal for are disney who is going to have to wait a little bit longer to get connected to brightline's routes if this more complex route through the city is opted for and for us who are sick of the current airport transportation options we'll have to wait a little longer for things to change there last week news broke on these negotiations between brightline and sunrail and the plan to pursue federal funds representative darin soto has stated the parties must reach a deal by this summer in order to effectively compete for that federal funding so the clock is ticking for this plan to be finalized a plan which is being termed the sunshine corridor program it really is quite exciting because this outcome while it's going to take a little longer for us to get it'll be much more useful to the end user than having a bright line only private rail system sunrail being purpose built to bring you to and from these smaller spots around the city utilizing this new rail will be awesome on the matter of timelines our sources at brightline say that the current target opening for an airport to disney line is sometime later in the decade 2028 tentatively that's later than we projected a year ago a lot later because now we're talking about a more complex route through the city potentially and the start time for getting this project built keeps getting pushed back due to how long these negotiations are taking i hope all this really goes to show just how complex this stuff becomes and just the sheer size and scope of this infrastructure project brightline is currently working on if this line connecting so much of florida together proves successful it could be the first of many new networks connecting too short to fly too long to drive destinations around the country reducing the reliance on the automobile and providing americans a modern means of travel other developed nations have been enjoying for quite some time so everyone that's the latest on the railroad to disney it's so much to talk about and go through i think you guys can see why this video took me a little while if you enjoyed be sure to subscribe with those notifications on so you don't miss videos like this in the future and if you'd like to help me recoup some of the costs associated with filming all this for this video you can support the channel via the links below we have patreon and all of that thank you guys so much for watching for the mickey mouse magic studio this is brayden i'll talk to you soon have a magical day [Music] you

Channel: Mickey Views

Views: 225,178

Keywords: Mickey Views, Mickey Views News, Disney News, Brightline, Brightline Orlando, Sunrail, Disney train, Railroad to Disney, Brightline Disney, Sunrail Disney, Sunrail Airport, Disney World transportation, Brightline construction update, Orlando International Airport, Orlando C Terminal, Brightline station Disney, disney world update, Disney, Disney World 2022

Id: yJgEyVpk6SM

Length: 15min 23sec (923 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 13 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/DJPancake28]

Very helpful video explaining the goals of Brightline, SunRail, and Disney, as well as explaining why it's so far behind. Not my video.