BEGINNINGS.

Florida's Brightline service conducts dress rehearsals with passengers, scheduled service to follow.

Jim Kovalsky, of the Florida East Coast Railway Society, has taken two round-trip rides on Brightline’s trains — the first on Saturday and the second on Sunday.

“It is wonderful,” he said of the service. “It is unlike anything else that I know of in this country. It is fast. It is smooth.”

Kovalsky, a longtime Brightline supporter, said Sunday’s return trip to West Palm Beach from Ft. Lauderdale took 31 minutes.

“Try to drive from downtown Ft. Lauderdale to downtown West Palm Beach in just 31 minutes,” he said. “I think it is going to change the way rail service is seen in this country.”

The initial service is ten round trips, West Palm and Fort Lauderdale, on 90 minute headways.  The company still hopes to run service between Miami and Orlando.

Brightline officials have said their service stands out from other rail ventures because it will be privately owned, operated and maintained. The company’s trains will run on Henry Flagler’s historic rail corridor, passing through the heart of many of South Florida’s coastal cities. Brightline’s launch marks the first time passenger trains have run on the Florida East Coast Railway tracks since 1968, when passenger service was discontinued following a union strike.

That's correct, this is a private rail operation, neither associated with a regional Commuter Rail authority nor with Amtrak.