GOOD NEWS OUT OF FLORIDA.

Last year, I changed the long-running "Free Rein to 110" campaign at Cold Spring Shops to advocate for railroads running trains at 125 mph.  Florida's Brightline are working on just that.

In a significant milestone toward its effort to launch service to Orlando by midyear, Brightline will being testing at speeds up to 125 mph on its new 35-mile corridor between Cocoa, Fla., and Orlando International Airport as soon as today, March 1.

In a Tuesday evening announcement, the passenger operator said test trains will operate between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily, with testing continue throughout the spring.

While Brightline has made extensive efforts to warn drivers and pedestrians of testing at speeds up to 110 mph as it tests between West Palm Beach and Cocoa — with flaggers and law enforcement officers at grade crossings — such efforts will not required for the Cocoa-Orlando testing. It is on a sealed corridor with no grade crossings.

Whether the notorious Florida Man will take chances with the enhanced level crossings on the existing Florida East Coast trackage limited to 110 because of those crossings remains to be seen.