Brevard city leaders visit Brightline station with hopes of adding Space Coast station
Brevard County leaders are hoping Brightline passenger train service currently being expanded won't just pass through the area, but eventually will stop on the Space Coast.
Government officials from Cape Canaveral, Cocoa and Cocoa Beach went down to South Florida on Monday to ride one of the trains and see for themselves the train system that eventually will connect Miami to Orlando and then Tampa, skirting Brevard along its way.
"It was good for us to see how the trains run and the stations there," Cocoa City Manager Stockton Whitten said. "The company has promised a stop in Brevard, and it makes all the sense in the world for Cocoa to be the location for that stop."
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Whitten said Brightline plans to conduct a ridership study over time before determining if and when a station might be built in Cocoa, but he is looking forward to the economic development a station might spur.
"We're hoping if we get a station it can be multi-modal," with restaurants, retail and even possibly an apartment development like the one in South Florida, Whitten said.
Cocoa Beach Mayor Ben Malik said it's a matter of common sense for there to be a stop in Brevard County.
"All of us from the Brevard contingency are hoping for us to have a stop in Brevard County. It makes no sense for it to come right past us and not stop," Malik said, citing Port Canaveral, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and Brevard's beaches.
Malik's first concern with a Brevard County stop was how people would get around once they'd disembarked the train. But, down south, Brightline customers are offered different levels of transit, including cars and shuttles, to bring them to a destination within five miles of the station, depending on which level of ticket they purchased.
"I was shocked at how nice the train actually was," Malik said. "The station itself was very interesting. It has multiple retail facilities, restaurants for the public, and it's adjoined to an apartment building."
"I was pleasantly surprised at how pleasant the ride was. It's a pretty slick operation," he added.
Brightline hopes to launch its higher-speed passenger train service along an $8 billion, 320-mile rail network stretching from Miami to Orlando to Tampa Bay by 2028. A train line has already been running from Miami to West Palm Beach for the past several years.
Passenger service is expected to begin in early 2023 on the privately held company's $2.7 billion extension linking South Florida with Orlando International Airport — which passes through Brevard County.
Tyler Vazquez is the North Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-917-7491 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @tyler_vazquez
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brightline train ridden by Brevard city leaders, lobby for Space Coast stop
