Florida High-Speed Rail Line Could Be Extended

Brightline, the high-speed rail service that connects Miami to Orlando in Florida, is seeking to extend its line west to Tampa.
Celebrating the service’s one-year anniversary, Brightline Senior Vice President of Marketing Barbara Drahl said it is intending to grow and expand, local outlet WKMG-TV reported.
“We’ve already announced that we’re going to be building a station in Cocoa,” Drahl said on Sunday. “We’re looking at the Treasure Coast and, of course, ultimately wanting to go out west to Tampa….We’re really creating the blueprint for what it means to travel on high-speed rail in America.”
Brightline has plans to build a station in Cocoa, a city near the Atlantic Ocean east of Orlando, as part of its broader efforts to expand throughout Florida.
Since last September, Brightline’s Miami-Orlando service has covered 5.4 million miles with 2.6 million rides taken. The service can reach maximum speeds of 125 mph and covers the 235-mile distance between the two cities in 3 hours and 25 minutes.
The International Union of Railways defines high-speed rail as lines equipped to travel 125 mph.
To accommodate the growing number of travelers, new coach cars are being added to expand capacity. According to Drahl, Brightline is focusing on providing more convenient travel options as ridership continues to increase.
“We’ll be able to move more people, put those cars where we have the demand, because people are generally going to want to travel all at the same time,” Drahl said.
Brightline’s expansion to Tampa is generating interest from local officials and business leaders.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor has been an active proponent of bringing the rail service to the city. In May, she held a private meeting with senior city staff and stakeholders to discuss the project’s progress.
“I’m excited by the progress that’s being made to bring Brightline to Tampa,” Castor told the Tampa Bay Times. “The stakeholders involved are committed to making this route a reality and to overcoming any challenges presented by an infrastructure project of this scale.”
The timeline for extending the service to Tampa remains uncertain. Rail expert Bob O’Malley recently estimated that Tampa could be a decade away from welcoming Brightline.
He told the Tampa Bay Business Journal this month that several major infrastructure projects along the Interstate 4 corridor and in Polk County that need to be completed before the rail extension is feasible.
“The extension of the Tampa Streetcar, bike and pedestrian improvements and other modes of transportation in the area are important because if and when Brightline comes to Tampa, riders will need those last-mile connections,” O’Malley said.
While the expansion to Tampa has support from local leaders like Castor, securing funding continues to be a challenge. In April, the state Legislature declined to allocate $50 million toward the project.
Governor Ron DeSantis has made it clear that state taxpayers will not be responsible for funding the rail’s construction, although he indicated that space along the I-4 corridor has been reserved for the project.
“If they proceed with [the expansion to Tampa], there is a corridor to be able to do that,” DeSantis said. “But it’s not going to be Florida taxpayers constructing a train—I can be clear on that.”
Brightline’s primary focus remains on expanding its services in Central Florida and maintaining its ambitious timeline for other projects, including a high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and Southern California called Brightline West, which it aims to open ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Newsweek has contacted Brightline for comment via email.