[dewilson58]

Lost $60,000,000 this last quarter.

Bond Rating dropped to a "B".
This is considered a "highly speculative" rating with "material default risk".

Ouch.

[Topspinmo]

Rail transport IMO hasn’t turned profit since 60’s if then? Overhaul few pockets up NE that may break even, but I bet it’s heavily subsidized? IMO I would buy lottery ticket before stock in rail service. At least with lottery ticket I know my odds.

[Rainger99]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

Lost $60,000,000 this last quarter.

Bond Rating dropped to a "B".
This is considered a "highly speculative" rating with "material default risk".

Ouch.

The good news is that they lost about $549 million in 2024 ($137.25 million per quarter) so they aren't losing as much this year.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

cash flow from ops? positive?

[gorillarick]

Wasn't this a govment subsidized boondoogle? Yes, one of those green things.

Starts at MCO and doesn't stop until West Palm Beach; but does plenty to screw-up traffic from Cocoa to Palm Beach.
Thanks for Xv@#*Z'ed.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by gorillarick

Wasn't this a govment subsidized boondoogle? Yes, one of those green things.

Starts at MCO and doesn't stop until West Palm Beach; but does plenty to screw-up traffic from Cocoa to Palm Beach.
Thanks for Xv@#*Z'ed.

Not government subsidized. Jury is still out on whether it is a boondoggle.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

The good news is that they lost about $549 million in 2024 ($137.25 million per quarter) so they aren't losing as much this year.

But they paid $218mil to refinance debt.
So 2024 "operating" loss per quarter is ~$80mil

[gorillarick]

Yes, it has gotten many gov subsidies and gov backed bonds. Dig deeper.
And the MCO west route is getting subsidies in the Billions.


also interesting - from the New Your Times April 18, 2025
"The news hasn’t all been rosy. Some Floridians have taken to calling Brightline the Death Train because more than 100 people have died crossing the tracks."

Took the cheap approach using existing (freight train) rail from Cocoa to Palm Beach.
IMHO, should never have been allowed. Have gone from maybe 10 relatively slow trains a day; adding 32 more - much faster trains. maybe 10 to maybe 42 total per day.
Crosses - probably a hundred crossings with just crossing guards, some only the lights.

I hope the FL west coast run won't repeat this insanity.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by gorillarick

Yes, it has gotten many gov subsidies and gov backed bonds. Dig deeper.
And the MCO west route is getting subsidies in the Billions.


also interesting - from the New Your Times April 18, 2025
"The news hasn’t all been rosy. Some Floridians have taken to calling Brightline the Death Train because more than 100 people have died crossing the tracks."

Took the cheap approach using existing (freight train) rail from Cocoa to Palm Beach.
IMHO, should never have been allowed. Have gone from maybe 10 relatively slow trains a day; adding 32 more - much faster trains. maybe 10 to maybe 42 total per day.
Crosses - probably a hundred crossings with just crossing guards, some only the lights.

I hope the FL west coast run won't repeat this insanity.

Death Train: Dig Deeper. All those people hit by the trains were where they were not supposed to be at the time. The tracks are easy to see. The official crossings are very well marked and gated. If you decide to walk along an active train track or drive around the gates or to cross away from an official crossing it isn't the train's fault if you get hit.

Growing up we knew better than to play on the train tracks. Growing up we knew not to walk around the gates or ride our bikes around the gates. Growing up we knew to look both ways before crossing even if the gates were open. That all seemed so easy and logical to us, I wonder why others found it difficult to understand.

Govt backed loans are loans, not subsidies.

[Battlebasset]

That's a shame. I have taken the Brightline and loved it. I would use it more to go to points SE, but the parking at their MCO station makes that very difficult. If they want more people to use it out of Orlando, they need to have dedicated/adequate parking next to it. Parking at WallyPark and shuttling over/out adds too much time/uncertainty to the point that it makes more sense to just drive.