For decades, Miami-Dade County has planned to build a coastal commuter train service along tracks owned by Florida East Coast Railway to provide much-needed local public transportation to its traffic-weary residents. The route, parallel to Biscayne Boulevard, is a key part of the county’s Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit plan — or SMART plan.
Since 2022, Miami-Dade has been negotiating with Brightline Trains, the private passenger rail company that operates higher-speed trains on Florida East Coast Railway (FECR) tracks from Miami to Orlando. The broad plan is to use existing FECR tracks to connect Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties in a transit corridor known as "Coastal Link."
" We have been working for several years on a project called the Coastal Link. Essentially what we're doing is we are providing the excess capacity in our network to Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach County so that they can operate a commuter system," Brightline CEO Patrick Goddard said at an economic forum in Miami last October.
Miami-Dade officials now seem close to penning a deal with Brightline that could cost taxpayers upwards of $33 million per year from taxpayers, according to a draft proposal obtained and reviewed by WLRN.
The potential agreement comes at a time when Brightline, according to its outside auditor and financial analysts, is facing mounting financial challenges to avoid possible bankruptcy.
Credit rating agencies have made a series of bond rating downgrades over the past year. A major agency, S&P Global, no longer provides a rating after cutting it further into junk bond territory earlier this year.
Brightline has also come under scrutiny for pedestrian and driver deaths from collisions with its trains. A joint investigation by WLRN and the Miami Herald last year found that on average, a person dies from colliding with a Brightline train once every 13 days, and the private company has received millions in taxpayer-funded grants to improve safety on its tracks.
READ MORE: Killer Train: Brightline death toll surpasses 180, but safeguards are still lacking
The 149-page draft agreement, which is subject to change and must be approved by the Board of County Commissioners, outlines the proposed relationship between the county, Brightline, and MDC Commuter, a subsidiary LLC created by Brightline to run the commuter service. The agreement names the locations of five commuter stations along the Brightline corridor between downtown Miami and Aventura — in Wynwood, Miami's Design District, Little Haiti, North Miami and North Miami Beach.
A spokesperson for the county's Department of Transportation and Public Works says there's currently no timeline for when this agreement might come up for a vote.
"The agreement remains under development and is subject to review through Miami-Dade County's standard legislative process before any final action can be taken," the spokesperson said. "The County remains committed to advancing transit solutions that improve regional mobility and will provide additional information as the project and agreement move through the appropriate review and approval process."
Miami-Dade already has skin in the game: The county commission in 2019 agreed to spend $72 million to build a station in Aventura that was meant to be used by both Brightline and the proposed public commuter train — whenever it materialized.
Negotiations with Brightline, however, have dragged on since then, leading some to question why taxpayers built the station without first negotiating a deal. County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava voted against funding the station in 2019, when she was a county commissioner.
Among the provisions of the proposed agreement are several that give Brightline significant control over operations and financial assurances worth hundreds of millions of dollars from Miami-Dade.
- If Miami-Dade wants to terminate the agreement “for convenience,” the county must pay Brightline a “termination amount” of no less than $250 million.
- The county can only request new commuter station stops from Brightline once every five years, and Brightline has "sole discretion" to approve new stations.
- Brightline will operate and maintain the commuter trains at an estimated annual operating and maintenance cost of $33.9 million, calculated in 2026 dollars. This number may be subject to change based on market conditions when the deal is signed.
- The county will pay Brightline an "operations fee" calculated at 10% of operations expenses.
- Brightline can suspend commuter rail service if it determines that county-approved funding is insufficient.
- If Miami-Dade wants to buy new train cars, Brightline will be the one to procure them on the county's dime.
- Brightline has the right to choose the contractors for construction of new stations and infrastructure.
The county would be responsible for funding the construction of new stations, additional infrastructure along the corridor, and maintenance of existing stations through a mix of local, state and federal dollars. In 2023, the county approved nearly $200 million for commuter rail. Miami-Dade secured a match to that $200 million from a state grant. The Federal Transit Administration under President Joe Biden pledged up to $389.5 million for Coastal Link in 2024.
Under the draft agreement, Brightline would manage the construction phase of the project while receiving a monthly management fee of $125,000. Brightline would also be entitled to "milestone payments" contingent on the construction phase reaching certain checkpoints.
Brightline has been counting on those milestone payments for years as it sells itself to investors, despite the deal not having been signed.
In a 2024 memo to investors for Brightline's tax-exempt revenue bonds, the company touted the proposed agreements with Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach for the Coastal Link project.
"This preliminary agreement, subject to final negotiations with respect to financing, termination rights and affiliate obligations (if any), would result in a total of $330 million of milestone payments by Miami-Dade County to MDC Commuter through the commencement of revenue service for the MDC Commuter Project," the 2024 memo states.
As the rail company's debt rating has fallen to "junk" status in recent years, the completion of a commuter deal could provide a much-needed cash infusion.
While the draft agreement indicates that a deal could be signed in the near future, the entirety of the commuter rail project stands on shaky ground owing to one major player reportedly absent from the negotiating table: FECR.
READ MORE: South Florida commuter rail project in limbo after latest ruling on Brightline lawsuit
Last August, FECR sued Brightline for breach of contract specifically because the passenger train company was negotiating with Miami-Dade County to put commuter trains on FECR's tracks without the rail company's involvement.
FECR, a company with century-old roots tying back to railroad pioneer Henry Flagler, is the actual owner of the tracks Brightline runs on. The two companies have a contract known as the "Joint Use Agreement" that allows the two firms to use the tracks — Brightline for passenger rail, FECR for freight.
FECR claimed in its suit that Brightline did not bring the railway owner into negotiations with the county government and violated the Joint Use Agreement. In subsequent motions, Brightline asserted these claims were "baseless."
In its complaint, FECR cast doubts as to whether commuter rail on the corridor would even be possible.
"The commuter service that Defendants sold to the Counties is, as a practical matter, an unviable and unsafe pipe dream. Its dramatic expansion of the number of trains operating on the FEC Corridor would, in turn, require significant additions and upgrades to the Corridor’s infrastructure, such as new tracks, stations, and sidings, to operate safely and avoid collisions," FECR wrote in a Sept. 26 amended complaint.
According to Brightline's draft agreement with Miami-Dade County, the Brightline and FECR are currently in ongoing arbitration over the dispute. The agreement contemplates beginning the design phase of the new stations while the arbitration is ongoing. That means if the agreement is signed, Miami-Dade will hire a firm to begin designing commuter stops while arbitration continues. If, after arbitration, FECR wants to move one of the stops, requires fewer trains per day, or eliminates a commuter stop, the county must update its plans on the fly, which could constitute a higher design cost.
Any changes to the plans based on FECR's requests may also jeopardize any grant funding the county secures for the project, by the parties' own admission.
"The Parties agree and acknowledge that a Final Service Determination that materially differs from the Preliminary Project Plans (as determined by the Federal Transit Administration) may require FTA approval in order for the County to obtain an [Full-Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA)]. The County will diligently pursue such approval, it being acknowledged that such approval is in the FTA's discretion and may impact the County's ability to enter into an FFGA," the draft agreement reads.
If the draft agreement is approved by the county commission in its current form, Miami-Dade would enter into a multimillion dollar deal that may not be able to get off the ground, and Miami's public transit dreams would once again be on uncertain tracks.
