After a hiatus that started nine months ago, Brightline’s high-speed rail service is likely to come to life again in South Florida toward the end of this year, the company now says.

The rail line, which halted service among the downtowns of Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami last March due to COVID-19, has used the down time to firm up new plans for local stations and build out its 170-mile expansion to Orlando, said spokesman Ben Porritt.

In the meantime, the company has commenced a plan to gradually restore nearly 250 jobs that were cut when the line shut down.

“There is a rolling plan to bring back positions,” Porritt said. “Some of this has started and will continue throughout the year. As it relates to station and operations staff, we expect them to be brought on board between 30 to 60 days prior to resuming service.”

According to a memo sent to investors late last year, the company said it was continuing to reassess its business plans amid the pandemic, including the best time to get its trains running again. But it offered no details on what events or conditions would trigger a resumption of service.

In December, the Bond Buyer, a trade publication, quoted the memo as saying service would resume in the third quarter of 2021. But on Thursday, Porritt would say only that a restart of service would happen sometime in “late 2021.1/4 u2033

Trains to reappear for signal tests

While trains won’t resume service for the public until later this year, you still might see the trains on the tracks. Brightline says it is upgrading its corridor between Miami and West Palm Beach with a series of signal tests that will start Sunday and last through the end of May.

That means that for the first time in months, Brightline’s trains, which are housed in West Palm Beach, will be passing through South Florida communities.

Rail workers will operate along the corridor and train horns will sound overnight and in quiet zones, the company said in a recent statement.

Residents who live near the Florida East Coast Railway line and motorists who drive over its rail crossings will start seeing Brightline trains. The first round of tests will be in Miami-Dade on Sunday and continue through Jan. 30.

In Broward County, the tests will start next month. a spokeswoman said. The first will start on Feb. 14 with the other beginning on April 25. Each test will last between five and seven days.