Excited by Brightline start, shiny trains, quad gates? After 11 years, here's the letdown.

Pardon me if I’m the only one not excited by Brightline’s hyped start of its Miami-to-Orlando route.

Yes, it’s historic. Trains have never run at up to 125 mph in this part of the world.

Yes, it would be cool to take a nice, new train from Miami to Orlando and back.

Yes, I enjoy traveling by rail ― when it makes sense, which is almost never around here.

A look at Day 1: Brightline passenger service South Florida to Orlando passes through Treasure Coast

The last train I took was in 2020: Amtrak, from Wilmington, Delaware, to the Baltimore airport so I could catch a Southwest jet to Orlando.

Brightline convenient for Treasure Coast?

Before that, I hadn’t ridden on a non-commuter train since maybe the early 1980s, when I took Amtrak's Auto Train to and from Florida. I try to ride the rails, but I haven't been able to justify the added expense or inconvenience.

But I don't live in the metropolitan areas of Miami or Orlando or have an interest in going from one place to the other for $79 per person one way. Nor have I had the need to travel from West Palm Beach to Miami for as little as $41 round-trip per person.

I’m not a tourist who wants to visit both cities.

I’m not one of my best friends from high school who plans to fly from Rhode Island to Miami to catch one of the first trains to Orlando, then fly back home from there. He’s in the railroad business and wants to check out the service.

I’m just like the vast majority of Treasure Coast residents, stuck in a place where there won’t be service anytime soon. Meantime, we’ll see up to 32 trains a day more, face delays and pay for fire-rescue officials to scrape victims off the rails when they are struck ― accidentally, of course — by trains moving faster than the vast majority of us have ever driven on an interstate.

Trains run through area Amtrak had eyes on

I hope all the safety improvements mitigate such problems. Still, people are human, and stuff will happen.

There have been times since March 2012, when I began following what was then known as All Aboard Florida, when I was excited about potential rail service.

On April 19, 2012, passenger rail service for the Treasure Coast seemed like a foregone conclusion.

Brightline, FEC challenging: Railroaded forever? Growing Vero Beach, Sebastian face crossing closures when lanes added

“Treasure Coast officials and Amtrak supporters who have been working for about 13 years to bring passenger service back to the Florida East Coast Railway, say they don't see All Aboard Florida as a threat,” TCPalm’s Henry Stephens reported.

“Passenger rail is truly beneficial for everyone,” Amtrak Government Affairs Director Thomas Todd Stennis was quoted as saying in the article. “The (All Aboard) and Amtrak projects are different projects with different interests. Both operations will benefit everyone on the FEC corridor.”

Amtrak planned to use state-owned track from Miami to West Palm Beach, switch to FEC track, then stop at new stations in Stuart, Fort Pierce, Vero Beach, Melbourne, Cocoa, Titusville, Daytona Beach and St. Augustine before linking to Amtrak service in Jacksonville, Stephens reported.

Fort Pierce station no-brainer

Liability issues, completing agreements with the state and FEC and funding were among Amtrak’s barriers to returning passenger service to Vero Beach for the first time since 1968, the Press Journal reported.

Brightline’s initial barriers included lawsuits by Indian River and Martin counties that ultimately cost taxpayers more than $9 million upon settlements in 2021 and 2018, respectively. Litigation occurred even after an unscientific 2015 TCPalm poll said 85.8% of Treasure Coast residents did not want their governments to spend tax money suing Brightline.

There were a host of other issues, some in a 646-page report by the Federal Railroad Administration I wrote about in 2015.

A financial challenge: Verp Beach advocates aim to stop Brightline from getting OK for more state-sanctioned bonds

In the early days, I dreamed about commuting (while working on my laptop) via train from Vero Beach to Stuart to avoid U.S. 1 or Interstate 95 trips to work. I liked how Brightline would build stations with mixed uses, becoming community hubs like others I've seen.

At first, I figured a Fort Pierce station, with a few stops a day, was a no-brainer. I could take it to the Orlando airport.

Brightline, which agreed to a Treasure Coast stop within five years of starting Orlando service in a lawsuit settlement with Martin County, still hasn’t announced where it will be or when it might open. As slowly as some development occurs around here — think of King's Landing in Fort Pierce and the Three Corners in Vero Beach, on the sites of power plants closed in 2008 and 2015 — I'd posit a local stop might not open for a decade, if ever.

Even if it were built tomorrow, what would I be willing to pay to ride a train? If I save on gasoline and parking, what would I save in time?

And nowadays, given the entrance of Breeze, Allegiant and Avelo airlines into our region, wouldn’t I rather fly out of less-crowded airports in Vero Beach, Melbourne or West Palm Beach? The airport in Sanford is almost two hours away from my home, but not a zoo like Orlando’s real airport.

Brightline doesn't finish job

I’ve also had issues with Brightline messaging over the years.

First it claimed to be a privately financed, built and operated passenger service, some of us inferring that meant it would not get government help. TCPalm reporter Lina Ruiz reported on part of that fallacy in 2022. The company has "partnered" to get grants or preferable financing from multiple levels of government as part of its $4.5 billion project.

In more than 11 years, Brightline has not replaced a century-old single-track drawbridge over the St. Lucie River in Stuart. Instead, increased rail traffic may clog boat traffic there.

Brightline replaced FEC's rusting 1926-era bridges over the St. Sebastian River. During construction in 2021, a TCPalm study found lead in the river 30 times higher than allowable limits near the bridge.  A retired Army Corps of Engineers employee living nearby suspected it came from the bridge's peeling lead paint.

What can we look forward to?

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection asked the company to be more careful.

And I guess I’m a little perturbed that when local governments want to widen roads to handle growth, FEC and Brightline, which own the rails, object ― unless the governments close crossings elsewhere.

The railroad seems even more powerful, yet less accountable, than Disney ever was with its special deal in Orlando targeted by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

I’ve never written Brightline off over critics' claims they'd go belly up financially or that the project was designed so the FEC could increase dangerous freight traffic.

What caused lead pollution? Toxic lead paint chips off St. Sebastian River rail bridge; Brightline focusing on safety

The fact is, the company has made a significant investment in safety on the Treasure Coast. Traffic signals put in at stop bars and quad gates before tracks, though confusing to some people, are impressive.

So I’m not going to be a Negative Nellie.

Let’s see what happens.

Will there be a viable station on the Treasure Coast?

Will things be safe?

Will the company make money, or will government have to step in, using our tax dollars, as it has elsewhere, to subsidize a system too few people will use?

We can’t control any of it — except for our own driving habits. Be safe out there.

As for the rest, all we can do is wait and see.

This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.

If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Brightline running through Treasure Coast cool? After 11 years, why?