Virgin Trains USA

[talltim]

Yes, the USA doesn't have much of a national rail network (hardly surprisingly), but it's a myth that nobody uses rail - where it exists, people do and local services have been successful where they've been introduced (which is often difficult as they might be peak-time only service over freight lines)

The US has a huge rail network and it carries a far higher percentage of the countries freight than the railways of the European countries

 

[AlexNL]

-Virgin America -> Needed Alaska to rescue it. In reality, it never made a profit. Yes, it made a statement, and did push for change in the US market, although in reality, did it really influence customer choice? Did customers really see Virgin, and choose them over Delta, or Southwest? Doubtfull. I guess Virgin America was probably the best guess they had at making US customers know Virgin, but it wasn't around for long enough to really get out there. If they gave it another 10-20 years on its own, I do think it would have been expanding to a 100+ fleet.

Virgin America was quite popular. They shook up the industry when they launched, and were well appreciated by their passengers.

They didn't disappear because Virgin America were on sale, they disappeared because Alaska made an offer which the Virgin America board accepted (they were a publicly traded company). Due to US airline regulations, Branson's influence on the company was minor and not big enough to be able to stop a takeover.

There are some rumours about Branson wanting to relaunch Virgin America, so... who knows.

 

[Fearless]

The US has a huge rail network and it carries a far higher percentage of the countries freight than the railways of the European countries

Freight, yes, but not so much passenger traffic beyond the North East corridor. Friends I visit always ask why I'm taking the train (e.g. Chicago--Phoenix) instead of flying. It just doesn't make sense to them.

 

[northwichcat]

One of Richard Branson's statements is that "Tens of millions of Americans travel on railways every day".
https://www.railwaygazette.com/news...sa-formed-by-virgin-group-and-brightline.html

I find that very hard to believe.

Population of USA = 326 million so if 6% of the population use the train then that claim is correct.

Or if you take what he says literally than an American living in Germany counts but a German living in America doesn't.

 

[northwichcat]

Where's the statement from the American equivalent of Mick Cash about private British companies coming over here and taking our revenue to spend on operations back in their home country? (First and Stagecoach also have significant operations in North America.)

 

[squizzler]

Where's the statement from the American equivalent of Mick Cash about private British companies coming over here and taking our revenue to spend on operations back in their home country? (First and Stagecoach also have significant operations in North America.)

There's none because they have a president to say all of that stuff.

 

[MarkyT]

The segment of FEC (Florida East Coast) RR between Ft Lauderdale and Miami was improved greatly for Brightline, converting a largely single track (albeit 'Class 1') freight line to double track throughout. Going further north, more of the same is planned for a proportion of the route, then a significant length of new construction to Orlando, which will be served by a station that has already been built at the airport. Tampa trains will also leave from Orlando airport and travel by an entirely new route mostly in the wide central reservation of an interstate highway that was proposed a decade or so ago for a high speed line but abandoned when a particular anti-rail state governor turned down federal money for its construction. I believe the route can also serve the Disney attraction in Orlando. With both Florida routes 'hubbing' at Orlando airport station I could see the rail ops being a useful distributor for some kind of relaunched Virgin US airline operation. Brightline also recently bought rights to develop a new passenger rail operation between southern California and Las Vegas that might one day plug in to the larger California high speed railroad.

 

[KashmireHawker]

The branding change is officially getting under way, with the new logo and Virgin's red branding having taken over the majority of Miami Central.

Video showing all taken by the American Railway Club: