BRIGHTLINE (Virgin Trains USA) - America's AWESOME new train!

[Music] this video is sponsored by surf shark hello and welcome to another video I'm Paul Lucas and today I am taking writeline from West Palm Beach Florida all the way down to Miami bright-line it's a really interesting new private rail service in the United States and it's gonna be a fascinating video I hope you come with me and enjoy the video today we're beginning our journey in West Palm Beach Florida about 70 miles and a 90 minute drive from Miami bright lines station opened here in January 2018 and is a pleasant low-rise building next to the downtown area I assume the commemorative bricks in the pavement outside the station are for supporters of the project bright line is an excellent idea but has met resistance with a car crazy Florida public and private landowners nonetheless bright line part owned by both Virgin Trains USA and a huge investment firm has got this far and currently runs 12 services per day to Miami via Fort Lauderdale American railways aren't usually up to the same standard as many British ones but sometimes you do find a good idea we might like to adopt something we'd never do though is have unfenced railways anywhere especially not in urban areas I guess there's a cultural thing inside the station is nicely appointed and with only one train an hour on average it's not busy big bags do need to be checked at one of these kiosks you can get an electronic ticket but I chose a paper one for a souvenir this believe it or not is the regular passenger lounge open to everyone it's a brilliant facility which is far better than anything I've seen in the US and in Europe too for that matter there's also a shop upstairs selling coffee drinks and snacks as well as some bright line merchandise I'm in select class today that's bright lines name for first class and there's a separate area for select customers this comes with printing facilities free snacks and drinks and even alcohol although I take a pass as it was only 10 a.m. our train today consists of four passenger carriages on select and three smart class and one SCB 40 locomotive sir shark have returned to sponsor another video with a special deal for you for the holidays there are loads of good reasons to get sir shark an award-winning VPN or virtual private network quite apart from the obvious security benefits of not having your data stolen on public Wi-Fi and also being able to access content that would otherwise be blocked when you're abroad surf shark can help you find the lower air fares here's how it works let's search from London to Phuket in Thailand a popular tourist destination for a week in May next year if we do the search without our VPN surf shark enabled we'll see that the lowest fare that we can find is a five hundred and six pounds return if we go to surf shark and enable our location as being from a lower-income country for simplicity sake here I've used Thailand you'll see that we get some very different results the lowest fare here is three hundred and seventy-two pounds returned with air China and that's a fair that we didn't even see when making the first search with the VPN turned off air fares are strange and wonderful things and if air china think that you're searching from the united kingdom they won't show this fare to you because they think you're able to pay more go to surf shark dot deals for slash winging it and enter code winging it at checkout for eighty-three percent off and an extra three months for free first impressions of select class were really positive seating is in a one-two configuration and it's clear the designers have thought hard about the trains facilities there's a mobile phone call area outside the main seating area good disabled access and information screens dotted in every coach the toilets are fully accessible and were impeccably clean don't forget to lock that toilet door though [Music] this map shows bright lines Ames the current route runs only from West Palm Beach to Miami the final phase of the project is some way off completion and involves extending the line with a hundred and twenty-five mile per hour section up to Orlando Airport reducing travel time from there to Miami to three hours current speeds on the West Palm Beach to Miami section are only seventy nine miles per hour but there are plans to increase this section beyond a hundred miles per hour fares are cheap especially in advance I paid thirty one dollars for my ticket in select and for just sixteen dollars I could have sat in smart class that's bright lines standard class low fares are key bright lines main competition is the private car I love that the website comes with a seat selected to being able to get a good seat is important to more people than many travel companies realize and on the website you can select single geo or tables of four I expect most travelers on this route travel alone the ride on bright line is smooth but there are grab handles on the seats if you need them and a recline function if you want to stretch out and relax [Music] this complimentary at seat service in select class which even comes with a hot towel incredible really first such a short journey this hot and cold drinks crisps and even a cheese and cold meat selection available at this time of the day [Music] sadly this part of Florida isn't that scenic and most of the journey takes place in suburbs so there's not much to see there's good Wi-Fi though if you want to distract yourself or perish the thought do some work [Music] the first stop after 37 minutes is a Fort Lauderdale it's good to see the designers have incorporated level access which helps anyone with a roller bag as well as a mobility impaired small for full touches are everywhere the exit signs being perfectly aligned with the train doors being run [Music] [Music] after Fort Lauderdale I checked out smart class now there's no taxi service here but seating is still in a two two configuration and retains great legroom and is very airy and spacious [Music] okay so on the train I have bumped into Jeff who is a Florida native and he's taking the bright line many times before so let's get his perspective on what this new tre means to people another thing I love white lion I think this is a great product it allows people especially from the north part of South Florida to get quickly down to the south part they offer great service it is students having a lamp to Orlando I just can't wait to be able to get on to a station much closer to me to go to Orlando Airport where I can get better fares bright line has not been popular with some people in Florida unfortunately there are a lot of people who are worried that bright light is really gonna cause a problem with traffic and back things up but I really think and as quickly as these trains you through town that is really not a problem much more beneficial and people are being led to believe all in all I was really impressed by these trains there are very few negative points about the entire product I'm glad to see the train service winning fans anyway a little bit of trivia we pass under Fort Lauderdale airport's runway now when this was extended to clear the road and railway that it crossed the end have been raised 57 feet in the air and it therefore slopes 1.3 degrees upwards to accommodate this a bit like a ski jump [Music] we arrived into Miami on time typically as a storm was brewing ready for the afternoon [Music] it took about 10 minutes to claim my bag and the station here at Miami Central is just as nicely designed as the one in West Palm Beach there's also a reminder of one of the company's owners overall a surprisingly brilliant little railway in South Florida the need to check bags on the short trip is annoying to a non-american traveler like me and will cause trains to dwell for longer in stations negating some of their high speed purpose but other than that consider me a huge fan - fingers crossed for the project's next phase as it extends to Orlando don't forget to head to Surf Shack the old slash winging it and use code ringing it at checkout for three months free of surf shop VPN and eighty-three percent off

Channel: Wingin’ It! Paul Lucas

Views: 756,831

Keywords: brightline train, brightline review, brightline select, brightline smart, virgin trains usa, brightline miami, west palm beach, brightline train at speed, brightline train orlando, brightline train florida, high speed train, us high speed train, brightline train review, brightline select review, first class, business class, railfan, brightline first class, brightline trip report, Paul lucas, trip report, review, brightline train tour, brightline train Miami to orlando

Id: BxgwzTF7rAc

Length: 12min 9sec (729 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 31 2019