Virgin Trains has officially broken ground on the country’s largest privately funded infrastructure project to expand passenger rail service to Orlando.
The company is developing 170 miles of new track into the completed intermodal facility located in the new South Terminal at the Orlando International Airport as part of phase 2 of its expansion into Central Florida. The project encompasses four zones including the area of the Orlando International Airport and the Virgin Trains Maintenance Facility. It will use 225 million pounds of American steel, will include the laying of 490,000 ties, and the transporting of 2.35 million tons of granite and limestone by 20,000 railcars.
Service is expected to begin in 2022, with Virgin Trains projecting over six million annual riders in Florida and $6.4 billion in direct economic impact. The project between South and Central Florida will generate more than 10,000 jobs and over $650 million in federal, state, and local tax revenue over an eight year period.
Check out the Orlando Virgin Trains groundbreaking event video
The Intermodal Terminal Facility at Orlando International Airport comprises 1.3 million sf of terminal space accommodating the airport’s South Airport Automated People Mover and up to three regional rail systems: Virgin Trains, SunRail, and possibly a third system serving the Orange County Convention Center/International Drive area.
Meanwhile, the Virgin Maintenance Facility is a 200,000-sf building that includes six miles of maintenance and storage track at Boggy Street Road and Weatherbee. It features a deep pit for removing and replacing wheel trucks, a 30-ton overhead crane for removing heavy train components, a 60,000 gallon fuel farm, a train wash facility, and wheel truing capability.
Virgin Trains, formerly Brightline, announced a strategic partnership and trademark licensing agreement with the Virgin Group in November 2018.
Related Stories
| Jul 18, 2014
Engineering firms look to bolster growth through new services, technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following solid revenue growth in 2013, the majority of U.S.-based engineering and engineering/architecture firms expect more of the same this year, according to BD+C’s 2014 Giants 300 report.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering/Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, AECOM, Parsons Brinckerhoff top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering/architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Fluor, Arup, Day & Zimmermann top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Gensler, Perkins+Will, NBBJ top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
2014 Giants 300 Report
Building Design+Construction magazine's annual ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S.
| Jul 9, 2014
First Look: SOM's design for All Aboard Florida Fort Lauderdale rail station
The lightweight and luminous design "responds to its setting and creates a striking infrastructural icon for the city," said SOM Design Partner Roger Duffy.
| Jul 8, 2014
Frank Lloyd Wright's posthumous gas station opens in Buffalo
Eighty-seven years after Frank Lloyd Wright designed an ornamental gas station for the city of Buffalo, the structure has been built and opened to the public—inside an auto museum.
| Jul 7, 2014
7 emerging design trends in brick buildings
From wild architectural shapes to unique color blends and pattern arrangements, these projects demonstrate the design possibilities of brick.
| Jul 2, 2014
Emerging trends in commercial flooring
Rectangular tiles, digital graphic applications, the resurgence of terrazzo, and product transparency headline today’s commercial flooring trends.
| Jun 30, 2014
San Antonio green lights multimodal transit center
The new 90,000-sf development will principally service San Antonio’s growing network of city bus and VIA PRIMO bus rapid transit service, including real-time arrival updates, as well as become an iconic public plaza for the city.