High Speed Rail in Florida and the History of Brightline

I personally can't wait to play CIties:Skylines 2 once all of the modders add extra train/transit rolling stock, thats always my favorite thing to tinker with. If you want to check out the game now, heres the link: play.citiesskylines.com/AlanFisher

The worst thing about high speed rail being shot down 3 times is the population of florida wanted it however it was the governors and regan who blocked it. The fact that Jeb was able to repel a voter approved amendment was criminal to say the least.

If I were Reagan, I would have strongly supported HSR just due to the fact that I could be called Ronald "Railroad" Reagan.

Isn't it strange? If a pedestrian gets hit by a car, the pedestrian is at fault. If a car gets hit by a train, it's the train's fault.

It's always disapionting when rail projects get canceled or shrunk to a bare minimum. Here in Germany a new highspeed line was canceled due to some "Dorftrottel" being affraid about the (potential) noise pollution. Plot twist the route was suposed to be built next to a highway.

People forget Rick Scott cancelled the high speed rail project, then his wife became a part owner of Brightline, and then Scott gave the green light to Brightline

Good ol Jeb and his family's oil money. Why on Earth do you think he'd be against HSR???/s

"Do not put an ad wrap over windows" AMEN! SAY IT LOUDER! The views of the relaxation of not having to worry about driving is part of the experience of riding a train, and whenever advertisement wraps the windows of a bus or a train, it makes the passengers inside feel like an afterthought. It's dehumanizing. For buses, it makes riding the buses more difficult since you can't easily see your surroundings and tell where you are, even if it announces the stops, so it's especially bad for first timers. That said, is it a nice and fast intercity service? Yes! Is it HSR? Not really, but it's still a fast intercity service competitive to driving and that's the point! Not every new rail service in North America has to be HSR! And speed isn't the only thing that makes an intercity service great, it's also frequency! The crossing you showed at 5:53 is called Confusion Corner in Stuart. Yes...Winnipeg isn't the only one with a Confusion Corner. A roundabout where Colorado Ave, Ocean Blvd, Flagler Ave, and Dixie Highway meet, combine all that with the railroad, and its name completely checks out. It is their number one tourist attraction, and they even sell shirts with it!

That grade crossing attached to a roundabout is one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

I got into Brightline back in the bad old days of the mid 2010s when the American Rail Club was the place to be for rail advocacy back when I was a wee lad in middle school . Brightline did a lot of good as I personally believe that began to seriously change the image of passenger rail in America for people outside of the northeast specifically in conservative states that got swept up by tea party mania at the start of the decade. I had opened eyes to not just can be done with private funding but also with state funding and get republicans more tolerable to state funded services. Nevertheless Brightline has its problems but that does not stop what it has done for people outside the transit bubble.

Blaming the RR for people driving around the gates and getting stuck on the tracks is probably one of the dumbest things I have ever heard.

Even with its flaws Brightline gives me hope for better intercity rail in Texas. fingers crossed for San Antonio/Austin regional rail.

The fact that Brightline is 'only higher speed rail' doesn't even matter that much: the fact there is now a reliable & accessible option to travel between Florida's 2 most important areas that is is - at minimum - not slower than driving is a MASSIVE improvement upon decades of neglect.

The problem with the street crossings is so stupid. This is not only caused by no separation, this is pure incompetence by drivers. Switzerland, the rail nation, has crossings everywhere, in any sizes, and it works so well

Brightline didn’t electrify in Florida because they couldn’t reach an agreement with the Florida east coast railway. They will electrify brightline west though

Personally, I think most of the blame for collisions belongs on drivers who either aren't paying attention or aren't patient enough to wait a few seconds.

All blame for vehicle v train accidents, with the exception of grading, is 100% the fault of the drivers on the road.

at this point it feels like it would be easier to list what wasn’t the fault of Regan

As a Brit, this is hsr to us 😭 Somehow our trains between London and Edinburgh is similar in distance as exp Boston to Baltimore and our “hsr” only does 125 mph but London to Edinburgh takes 4 hours and Boston to Baltimore takes 7 hours (which is as much as London to Aberdeen and that’s on lines with 1 track at some places)

3:50 as a european it's weird to see service frequency measured in trains per DAY 😂