Brightline/Virgin Trains USA

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Neel24

New Member
Original Poster
Hi!

I know that Brightline/Virgin Trains USA is planning a stop near Disney. If it happens does anyone know where it could be located or if you could choose where would you put it? Any chance a direct stop in a place that’s walkable to the park without having to take a bus or car from the stop?
 
Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
Neel24 said:
Hi!

I know that Brightline/Virgin Trains USA is planning a stop near Disney. If it happens does anyone know where it could be located or if you could choose where would you put it? Any chance a direct stop in a place that’s walkable to the park without having to take a bus or car from the stop?
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As far as I know, the Brightline will only have one stop in Orlando...not an additional at Disney. The station will be next to the airport....Which makes that idea for a light rail to Disney and Universal pretty interesting...
 
JaxFLBear

JaxFLBear

Well-Known Member
Bocabear said:
As far as I know, the Brightline will only have one stop in Orlando...not an additional at Disney. The station will be next to the airport....Which makes that idea for a light rail to Disney and Universal pretty interesting...
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Actually, Virgin Trains USA (formerly Brightline) has signed a letter of intent with WDW for a station which would be in addition to intermodal station under construction at MCO.
 
imarc

imarc

Well-Known Member
Granted, it's 25 pages, but lots of discussion -- I don't think any solid answers about the location of the stop -- here:

Rumor - Higher Speed Rail from MCO to Disney World

Is the old proposal to have a HSR connection between Orlando and Disney World is back? Back in 2000, Florida came up with a plan to build a HSR between Miami-Orlando-Tampa, with a stop at Disney World, which got killed in 2003, and revived in 2009 only to be killed again. During the previous...
forums.wdwmagic.com forums.wdwmagic.com
 
bpiper

bpiper

Well-Known Member
There will actually be another station in Orlando. As the Train leaves airport property on the south side, it will join the tracks currently used by Sunrail. It will make a stop at the Sunrail Meadow Woods station. After that, the tracks will join the median of the greenway heading west to I-4.
 
AndyS2992

AndyS2992

Well-Known Member
A high speed train line from MCO to Disney Springs would be awesome. Love going to Disneyland Paris since you get on the Eurostar train in London and two hours later the train pulls right in to Disney Village and you hop off and you’re there with all parks and hotels walking distance or with shuttle buses if you prefer. I’d love WDW to have this since I certainly wont be paying to park my car at a resort and the Magical Express buses are slow and not as reliable.
 
bpiper

bpiper

Well-Known Member
AndyS2992 said:
A high speed train line from MCO to Disney Springs would be awesome. Love going to Disneyland Paris since you get on the Eurostar train in London and two hours later the train pulls right in to Disney Village and you hop off and you’re there with all parks and hotels walking distance or with shuttle buses if you prefer. I’d love WDW to have this since I certainly wont be paying to park my car at a resort and the Magical Express buses are slow and not as reliable.
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This will not be a High Speed train in the sense of what they have in Europe. It will be a "Higher Speed" train.
Trains will operate at up to 79 mph between Miami and West Palm Beach, up to 110 mph between West Palm Beach and Cocoa, and up to 125 mph between Cocoa and the Orlando Airport. The stretch leaving the Orlando airport will have a number of fairly tight turns along with the Meadow Woods station leading to the Greenway which will hold the speeds down. It should open up in the Greenway median but it may not get up to full speed before it has to start slowing for the Disney station.
 
homerdance

homerdance

Well-Known Member
Very unlikely this is really a HSR, more like a faster rail. The train station will likely be in this general area.
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Also, there is plans on having 1 stop between MCO and WDW to connect to SunRail around the meadow woods station.
 
halltd

halltd

Well-Known Member
Magic Feather said:
Location is by FLO and Wide World of Sports. Bus Service will be needed to get anywhere.
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I don't know that the location is finalized yet. If you look through the I4 Beyond the Ultimate drawings on the FDOT website, you can find a sheet that shows the rail right of way and also the "Disney HSR Station" as it's labeled on the drawings. It's further South by the Mickey Ear power stanchion.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
halltd said:
I don't know that the location is finalized yet. If you look through the I4 Beyond the Ultimate drawings on the FDOT website, you can find a sheet that shows the rail right of way and also the "Disney HSR Station" as it's labeled on the drawings. It's further South by the Mickey Ear power stanchion.
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I believe that was the location of the Disney station for FDOT’s dead Orlando-Tampa high speed rail project.
 
bpiper

bpiper

Well-Known Member
halltd said:
I don't know that the location is finalized yet. If you look through the I4 Beyond the Ultimate drawings on the FDOT website, you can find a sheet that shows the rail right of way and also the "Disney HSR Station" as it's labeled on the drawings. It's further South by the Mickey Ear power stanchion.
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Do you have a link for them? I would like to look at them.

That would make more sense. Everything I have read says that the line will be in the median of the Greenway until it hits I-4. That location is south of the junction of the Greenway and I-4 while that FLO location is north of the Greenway/I-4 junction. To reach the FLO location, the tracks would have to leave the Greenway right of way before I-4 which means the tracks would have to be grade separated from local traffic in between the 2 highways. This would drive up costs dramatically...

I seem to remember that there once was a proposal to have the tracks come from the airport in the median of the Beachline and then head south in the median of I-4. The FLO station location would make sense in that design.
 
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Lensman

Lensman

Well-Known Member
This post in the main thread has Brightline's proposals for the alignment just outside or inside of WDW.

Rumor - Higher Speed Rail from MCO to Disney World

The real story is: The prospectus indicates Brightline has lost $87 million this year, the third straight year of operating losses: 2016: $25 million in operating losses 2017: $44.7 million in operating losses 2018 (through Sept. 30): $87 million in operating losses
forums.wdwmagic.com forums.wdwmagic.com

377637


Moderators: It really seems to me that we should merge this thread into the original one.

Until then, I guess I'll post links to all the relevant posts from the original thread.

Here is the post by @Hitmanatee on the station design from the *original* now-canceled HSR that involved a proposed station at I-4.

Rumor - Higher Speed Rail from MCO to Disney World

The real story is: The prospectus indicates Brightline has lost $87 million this year, the third straight year of operating losses: 2016: $25 million in operating losses 2017: $44.7 million in operating losses 2018 (through Sept. 30): $87 million in operating losses
forums.wdwmagic.com forums.wdwmagic.com
The "red" alignment in the Brightline proposal could involve a station like this.
 
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TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
For the USA, anything above 100 is high speed rail. There is no magic number that makes it high speed rail, although for new builds it’s typically above 150.

Either way, this will be hsr as far as USA is concerned. And it’s plenty fast enough to be practical for this system.

I rode it during its first few weeks of operation and wish them a lot of success.
 
halltd

halltd

Well-Known Member
Lensman said:
This post in the main thread has Brightline's proposals for the alignment just outside or inside of WDW.

Rumor - Higher Speed Rail from MCO to Disney World

The real story is: The prospectus indicates Brightline has lost $87 million this year, the third straight year of operating losses: 2016: $25 million in operating losses 2017: $44.7 million in operating losses 2018 (through Sept. 30): $87 million in operating losses
forums.wdwmagic.com forums.wdwmagic.com

View attachment 377637

Moderators: It really seems to me that we should merge this thread into the original one.

Until then, I guess I'll post links to all the relevant posts from the original thread.

Here is the post by @Hitmanatee on the station design from the *original* now-canceled HSR that involved a proposed station at I-4.

Rumor - Higher Speed Rail from MCO to Disney World

The real story is: The prospectus indicates Brightline has lost $87 million this year, the third straight year of operating losses: 2016: $25 million in operating losses 2017: $44.7 million in operating losses 2018 (through Sept. 30): $87 million in operating losses
forums.wdwmagic.com forums.wdwmagic.com
The "red" alignment in the Brightline proposal could involve a station like this.
Click to expand...
Interesting! I hadn't seen this before. I was just browsing through the FDOT Beyond the Ultimate drawings because I was curious as to what I-4 was going to look like between Universal and Disney. That's when I noticed the HSR ROW in the middle of I-4. I know it's been updated since the State version since the station by the Convention Center is no longer on those plans. But, again, I don't think any of this is finalized since that leg isn't even approved yet.
 

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