I rarely see the day the Florida East Coast Railroad publicly speaks to the ill about Brightline, a high-speed passenger rail partner in southern and central Florida.
He also has not publicly expressed any objections to the planned Brightline of the Commuter Railway Line.
Until recently.
In a sharply expressed lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, the venerable Jacksonville-based freight carrier and the Miami-Dade Circuit Court, the Miami-Dade Circuit Airline, which owns 351 railways between Miami and the city of Northeast Florida, Brightline claims he began to maintain the FECR when he began talking to county officials via a commuting line that could run between three counties between Miami and Gyami 85 miles.
The lawsuit was first reported by the Miami Herald.
Coastal Commuter Link Idea is a growth in a plan investigated and coordinated by the Florida Department of Transport in 2003, decades after passenger rail services along the line, founded by Oil Baron Henry Flagler, founded in 1968.
The Florida East Coast lawsuit alleges that the two railways signed in 2016 and 2017 have stepped over the scope of the contract. Brightline opened in 2018 with sophisticated passenger trains that whispered South Florida commuters in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and downtown Miami. The new station later germinated in Boca Raton and Aventella, and in September 2023 Brightline achieved its primary initial target by opening a 170-mile extension in Cocoa and then extending west to the Orlando International Airport station.
But before the add-on was completed, Brightline began discussions with Miami-Dade and Broward County about building another commuting line for local South Florida travelers. This was done, the lawsuit alleges without knowledge of Brightline’s landlord, Florida East Coast Railroad.
“This is a paradigmatic case of giving an inch and taking a mile away, in this case it’s a hundred miles of railroad,” the complaint alleges.
“FECR will bring about this complaint, end Brightline’s long-standing campaign, strip FECR of its right to use its own property and ensure Brightline’s compliance with terms agreed to nearly a decade ago,” the complaint states.
Under these conditions, FECR, which operates freight trains along corridors, including destinations such as Palm Beach, Port Everglades and Port Miami, has allowed Brightline to use trucks for passenger operations “providing strict restrictions on the amounts to protect public safety.”
“But rather than thanking the use of the FEC corridor, Brightline wants more trains and more profits,” Suit claims. “And to get it, Brightline conspires behind the back of the FECR to confiscate the FECR from its property, load the trains of the railway line into the railway line, loading it with volumes that the truck cannot safely handle without the significant investment that Brightline can’t get.”
Ashley Blaswitz, director of media relations at Brightline, claims that the Florida East Coast is “no merit.” She said Brightline had dismissed the case and filed a motion to “force arbitration.” She declined to comment further.
The Florida East Coast Railway did not respond to email questions asking if they would allow a new dedicated commuting line along the corridor under any circumstances.
“Vulnerable” counties
None of the three counties have been appointed defendants in the suit.
However, the lawsuit argues that Brightline places the county, especially Miami-Dade County, in a vulnerable and unacceptable position. Miami-Dade noted that it is seeking approval for hundreds of millions of dollars in fundraising from the Federal Transportation Administration for commuting projects.
“But the funds are dead underwater,” the lawsuit argues. “The Brightline expression is not only legally prohibited by an agreement with FECR, but is effectively eliminated by the use of FECR’s existing trucks.”
Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel
Broward County said it is aware of the Florida East Coast Railroad lawsuit against Brightline. Brightline worked with Mimidide, Broward and Palm Beach counties to set up a commuter line east of Interstate 95. Coundy said he will continue to work for Brightline in the 27-mile segment near Aventura and Broward Medical Center. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel File)
Broward County, part of it, is negotiating a deal with Brightline, which will have commuter stations in Hollywood near Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport and Broward Medical Center, but said on Monday it will continue working with the project Brightline.
“Broward County is aware of the lawsuit and is still in continuous discussion with Brightline regarding the future development and operation of Miami-Dade County and the Broward Commuter Rail Project,” County Director Core Cuff Lonergan said in a statement to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “We believe this project is a key component of our overall transportation network, providing much needed relief for the needs of North and South mobility and creating opportunities for economic development in communities along the corridor.”
In a Brightline dismissal motion filed July 29, the attorney for the Miami-based company, known as the East Coast of Florida, claims it is “frivolous” and “untrue.” Brightline also said the joint agreement requires it to be resolved through arbitration rather than a complex business litigation section of the state court.
“Under that agreement, Brightline has the express contractual right to operate passenger rail services along the FEC corridor.
“This includes both higher speeds of ‘inter-city’ passenger service and ‘commuting’ service,” the railway motion added.
“Nevertheless, the FECR complaint has claimed that Brightline “Violat (Ed)” is “Violat (ed)” by working with Miami-Dade County and others to develop the necessary commuting rail services in South Florida,” the motion added.
Fecr. I said. “We knew that one of the Brightline parent entities was preparing a bond offer to help fund the commuter rail project, so we sought to block that effort by asserting specific claims in the public forum.”
It went on to say that the East Coast of Florida was “publicly asking Brightline to do harm by filing a free factual allegation that they knew it was not true.”
Ruffled
The lawsuit against Brightline on the East Coast of Florida comes as South Florida commuter railroads are undergoing a tough patch.
Brightline bonds recently announced that they downgraded their $221.9 billion personal activity bonds from BB+ to B on July 30, following a different downgrade from Fitch’s valuation. The agency cited “uncertainty” about whether additional passenger capabilities would “create sufficient demand to drive both higher ridership and fare revenues.” Last year, the company announced a net loss of $550 million, much of which was attributed to refinance and expansion costs.
In its June ridership and revenue report, in which Brightline reported year-over-year increases in both categories that month, the company noted that it has a global campaign to raise “a significant amount of stock.” It also pursues the issue of $400 million tax-free bonds.
Separately, Trirail, a publicly subsidized three-county railroad that travels along the state-owned rail corridor between the West Palm Beach area and Miami International Airport, says that if they don’t receive additional funds by 2027 they’ll run out of money.
On Monday, the South Florida Regional Transportation Agency, the Trirail’s operating body, announced that the railroad had achieved its fiscal year ridership record with 4,578,680 vehicles from July 2024 to June 2025.
“We are extremely proud of this ridership milestone,” SFRTA executive director David DeCh said in a prepared statement. “It speaks to the important role that Trirail plays in meeting the transportation needs of our growing regions.”
DeCh is abroad and is not available for comment, the spokesman said.
In a statement, Trirail called it “a cornerstone of South Florida’s mobility and helps reduce crowds, connect communities and fuel local economic growth.”
Still, the railway line needs more public funds, the statement said it repeated the recent public financial warnings provided by DECH.
Florida’s recent state budget “includes reductions in system funding.”
“Current financial forecasts show that without additional support, Trirail has only sufficient funds to operate until July 2027,” the statement added.
As a result, the agency’s management board and executives said, “We are actively working with the Florida Legislature and the Florida Department of Transport to ensure leadership from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties and sustainable long-term funding solutions.”
Wide roads, more arteries
In a phone interview Monday, Gregory Stuart, executive director of the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization, said that it is likely that it will force planners to consider building more highways as they could not build a commuter line east of I-95 and maintain the Trirail, as it would help map future transit county projects and secure federal funding.
“What does the outlook look like? More traffic on the road,” he said.
Stuart recalled that FECR representatives attended a planning meeting for the Coastal Commuter Railway Link, dating back to 2003.
“I think the FEC even opposed it,” he said. “When they agreed with Florida (the predecessor of Brightline), we all saw a faint sight of hope.”
But no matter what happens, the FEC is under control.
“They own public roads,” he said. “All of those intersections or temporary leases — they can shut everything down very quickly. They are the owners of the property.”
Stuart said the federal government has identified “never millions of Miami-Dade works” on the commuter link.
“We need to know what to do,” he said.
Original issue: 7am EDT, August 5, 2025
