Introducing the newest @Virgin company: Virgin Trains USA https://t.co/4x55Go864D pic.twitter.com/iSzHTTQ3bN
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) November 16, 2018
Brightline's 2018 didn't start out so sunny (killing a bicyclist in Boynton Beach will do that). The higher-speed passenger rail line's summer wasn't without controversy either thanks to funding concerns, sketchy tax-extensions and Orange County's decision to OK the laying of tracks through the wetlands.
The service — which currently runs from South Florida and into Orlando — is pushing on, however, and could finally be headed to Tampa. At least that's what TBBJ thinks.
Brightline — which is privately funded — just announced a new strategic partnership and trademark licensing agreement with The Virgin Group, one of the world’s most recognizable brands in travel and hospitality (you know who Richard Branson is, right?).
Renaming to Virgin Trains USA will begin this month and transition branding starts next year.
"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,'" the TBBJ wrote, adding that Brightline will still be managed by its own executive team and affiliates from Fortress Investment Group.
Consumers will know more about the future of Brightline in Tampa at the end of the month when The Florida Department of Transportation makes a decision on proposals for leasing the rights of way along Interstate 4 (spoiler: Brightline was the only company that submitted a bid to build an intercity rail line between Orlando and Tampa).
We're just wondering if the train cars will have free Heineken the same way some Virgin flights out of Miami and to Las Vegas do.
This article appears in Nov 15-22, 2018.
