Virgin Trains wants to expand to the Cruise Ship Terminal in Miami

[JPS1]

GERALD L MCFARLANE JR

If Virgin Australia ends up going under expect the cost of air travel in Australia to skyrocket as their market will have only one carrier: Quantas(and it's subsidiaries). 

I lived and worked in Australia from 1999 to 2004.  Australia was a two-airline country when I lived there, i.e. Qantas and Ansett.

 

Ansett went belly up in 2002.  It was the only time I got bumped off a flight because the carrier ceased operations.  But I got my money back.

 

Impulse Airlines, which was a regional carrier, attempted to fill the gap after the collapse of Ansett, but it was not successful.  It was subsequently acquired by Qantas.  I flew it twice from Melbourne, where I lived, to Sydney.  Being a commercial pilot and flight instructor, I was a bit concerned about flying on a carrier that billed itself as Impulse, which is not a chacteristic that I normally associate with flight crews.

 

Virgin Blue came along about 2000.  It was largely underfunded from the get go.  COVId-19 appears to be the anchor that has pulled it down.  Whether it survives is problematic. 

 

While I lived in Australia my banker friends constantly questioned whether Australia, which has a population that is less than Texas, could really support two airlines.  Unless sentiments have changed, however, the federal government supports a policy of having two airlines in the country.  I think it will find a way to make it happen or continue to happen.  

[GERALD L MCFARLANE JR]

blue streak 1

Virgin Australia ( airline ) has declared bankruptcy.  Aviation week partial article on link. Full article is paywalled.  Wonder if there is any possibility that Virgin might chapter 11 for Brightline ?  Ptobablility not great ?

https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/airlines-lessors/cash-crunch-forces-virgin-australia-seek-new-owners?utm_rid=CPEN1000000511129&utm_campaign=23859&utm_medium=email&elq2=b01d5db8b9eb43e7b6eb8d6835b15896   

 

 

If Virgin Australia ends up going under expect the cost of air travel in Australia to skyrocket as their market will have only one carrier: Quantas(and it's subsidiaries).

[CMStPnP]

FWIW, Sir Richard Branson is selling Virgin Atlantic (Airline).   Floating more debt and trying to hang onto Virgin Rail and the new Cruise Ship division.

[Overmod]

CSSHEGEWISCH

Their financials may be better than Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Australia.

But also, maybe worse.  Brightline right from the beginning was less about running the trains at a nominal profit than bundling prospective loss into a huge real-estate project.  One wonders how the real-estate side of the scheme will fare, and if it is impaired even in market expectation, what that might spell for a relatively-little-costed-down new rail system with greatly restricted ridership and available seats both...

Now, on the other hand (and looking toward the original thread topic) this may be a good time to catch up on maintenance with traffic low, as appears to be the case in Israel, and perhaps to be able to put people to work while the economy is still in relative turmoil.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Keep in mind that Brightline is a separate entity from the other operations.  Their financials may be better than Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Australia.

[blue streak 1]

Virgin Australia ( airline ) has declared bankruptcy.  Aviation week partial article on link. Full article is paywalled.  Wonder if there is any possibility that Virgin might chapter 11 for Brightline ?  Ptobablility not great ?

https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/airlines-lessors/cash-crunch-forces-virgin-australia-seek-new-owners?utm_rid=CPEN1000000511129&utm_campaign=23859&utm_medium=email&elq2=b01d5db8b9eb43e7b6eb8d6835b15896   

[blue streak 1]

This was seened as a big potential once FEC reopened the causeway and drawbridge to the port.  A possible solution would be for those passenger trains that need to go to the  port to just back out to the present FEC connection then pull forward to the port.  

Reverse procedure from port to Miami central station ?  with locos on both end a qualified engineer or conductor can supervise the back up moves.  Anyone know how far a back up move would need to be ?  Also since cruise ships have schedules that may not fit regular brightline trains and passenger demand might overwhelm regular trains maybe special trains that  do not stop at MIC will be operated ?

High level platform(s) are going to be expensive at the port and not cause conflict with surface trafic. Platform for convience would need to be on cruise ship side of tracks.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

There are tracks in place into the Port of Miami but it would take a fair amount of money to build a transfer terminal within the port for cruise passengers.

[MidlandMike]

The Virgin train passes thru Cocoa, which is just across the lagoon from Port Canaveral.  Although the Beachline Expressway wanted a non-competition clause in their easment to the rail line between Orlando and Cocoa.

[Enzoamps]

COntracts expire, things change, you never know...

[n012944]

CMStPnP

I believe they are also looking potentially for a stop at Disney World and if they suceed there could possibly corner the Disney World to Disney Cruises market if that has any potential.

 

The majority of Disney Cruises leave from Port Canaveral, so no, the Miami station change would not really factor into that.

 

Disney does sell many "land and sea" packages, and provide transportation between WDW and Port Canaveral.  Disney has a contract with Mears Transportation to move the passengers back and forth.  

[CMStPnP]

So I kind of saw this one comming once Virgin announced it was getting into the Cruise Ship business that naturally the next step would be to build from it's Miami Central Terminal to dockside where it's cruise ships board.   Somewhat similar to the arrangement they have in Alaska (Psst: You would have thought Amtrak NY-FLA market folks would have thought of this decades earlier but well....there you have it with Amtrak and innovation).

Anyhoo, I am eager to see the plans when they become public how they are going to go from an elevated station back down to street level again and into the port of Miami to the cruise ship terminal.

 

https://www.miamitodaynews.com/2019/02/19/virgin-trains-usa-might-roll-into-portmiami/

 I believe they are also looking potentially for a stop at Disney World and if they suceed there could possibly corner the Disney World to Disney Cruises market if that has any potential.