page_title: Transportation in South Florida
section_title: Virgin Trains USA
hierarchical_section_title: Transportation in South Florida / Rail transportation / Intercity and higher-speed services / Virgin Trains USA
caption_attribution_description: English: Brightline train at Fort Lauderdale station.
context_page_description: The Greater Miami area, composed of the three counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach, also known collectively as South Florida, is home to a wide variety of public and private transportation systems. These include heavy rail mass transit, commuter rail, automated guideway transit, highways, two major airports and seaports, as well as three county-wide bus networks, which cover the entire urbanized area of South Florida. Census and ridership data show that Miami has the highest public transportation usage of any city in Florida, as about 17% of Miamians use public transportation on a regular basis, compared to about 4% of commuters in the South Florida metropolitan area. The majority of public transportation in Miami is operated by Miami-Dade Transit, which is currently the largest transit system in Florida and was the 14th largest transit system in the United States in 2011.
  South Florida is one of the most densely populated urbanized areas in the United States overall, being bound by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the South Florida Water Management District and the Everglades to the west, with a fairly strict Urban Development Boundary.
context_section_description: Twice a Florida High Speed Rail system was proposed to connect Miami with Orlando and Tampa Bay. First in 2000, which was opposed by then Florida governor Jeb Bush, then in 2009 the plan was revived with a grant offered under Obama's American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. However, Florida governor Rick Scott denied the funding in 2011, citing that it was still a risk due to uncertain ridership estimates and actual construction and maintenance costs, which could have been a burden to taxpayers. Many were disappointed in Scott's vehement denial of the money. 26 Florida senators from both political parties signed a letter to United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood encouraging him to ignore Scott's decision, and even former governor Jeb Bush, who was against the previous high-speed rail proposal, was surprised by Scott's actions. The money was ultimately directed to other states and the plan killed.
  In 2012, Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) announced a proposal for a privately owned and operated higher-speed rail system, All Aboard Florida, which would connect Orlando and Miami on its own tracks. While not truly high speed rail, the train would supposedly reach a speed of 125 miles per hour (201 km/h) on a 40 miles (64 km) section of new track connecting Cocoa and Orlando. It was originally said that the system could be operational by 2014. Permits, planning and funding among other things delayed this; however, by 2014 construction had begun. The system was initially funded for the segment between downtown Miami and West Palm beach, partially by selling bonds. Construction of the Virgin MiamiCentral station in Government Center began in 2014, with some of the additional tracks and site work on the other two South Florida stations taking place by 2015. Service between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale opened in January 2018 and the extension to Virgin MiamiCentral opened in May.
caption: A Brightline train at Fort Lauderdale
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4032", "Image ImageLength": "3024", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone X", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2018:03:22 15:16:42", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "296", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[26, 7, 281/10]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[80, 8, 4471/100]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "1297/609", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[21, 47, 9]", "GPS GPSSpeedRef": "K", "GPS GPSSpeed": "1811/8317", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "T", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "31126/183", "GPS GPSDestBearingRef": "T", "GPS GPSDestBearing": "31126/183", "GPS GPSDate": "2017:12:11", "GPS Tag 0x001F": "6", "Image GPSInfo": "884", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1290", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6526", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/176", "EXIF FNumber": "9/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "20", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:12:11 16:47:09", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:12:11 16:47:09", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "5302/711", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2159/1273", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "11849/1741", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "4", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1451, 1989, 743, 753]", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "643", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "643", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "750", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "2", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "756/233", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "104", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[4, 6, 9/5, 12/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPhone X back dual camera 4mm f/1.8"}